


The Virtuous Life

by eversincenewyork (carlammenezes)



Category: Figure Skating RPF
Genre: AU, F/M, Love/Hate, Youtuber Tessa, hockey player scott
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-30
Updated: 2018-10-27
Packaged: 2019-05-31 08:39:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 9
Words: 36,947
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15115781
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/carlammenezes/pseuds/eversincenewyork
Summary: Tessa Virtue is - proudly - the creator of “Virtuous Life”, a lifestyle youtube channel with more than 10 million subscribers worldwide. Her 2nd channel, “Everyday Virtue”, where she posts daily vlogs, is her favorite because she gets to show her followers glimpses of her life besides OOTDs and photoshoots. She isn’t one of the most famous faces in Canada for nothing: Tessa knows what she’s doing, loves to study everything related to fashion, house decor and beauty (and Psychology, her secret passion, subject of the MBA she keeps postponing). If there’s one thing she doesn’t have a clue about, that thing is hockey. When her biggest sponsor asks her to create content with the Maple Leafs, she hesitates for a second but feels challenged and excited right after. What she couldn’t predict when the contract was signed was that she’d have to spend some time with the team’s star: Scott Moir, the most oblivious person ever when it comes to the Internet. But how hard could it be? She’d record a 5 minute video with him and that’s it, right?)(Well, it would be simple if the fans hadn’t loved seeing them together and had made #Virtuemoir a Trending Topic for more than 24 hours, which, of course, caught the sponsor’s attention).





	1. The Secret Partnership Announcement

**Author's Note:**

> Hey! A few weeks ago I saw a bunch of tweets saying how cool would it be to read a youtuber Tessa fanfic and being a YT fan, I thought that was a great idea as well. Unfortunately I haven't seen any around here yet (if there is one, please send me the link!!!) so I decided to write one myself. This is my first time writing a lengthy fic in a while (a few years, actually), so please be patient with me (and with my terrible English is well). Just like youtuber Tessa, I know pretty much nothing about hockey, so I'm also sorry about any future mistakes and would love your help on that. :)

**“Hey, guys! If you’re new to this channel, I am Tessa Virtue and I hope you enjoy this video”.** She says while she waves to the camera with her hair pulled up in her signature bun.

 **“Actually, if this is your first time watching my videos, I recommend you choose another one - and I’ll make sure to put the links down below - because this one in particular is a little bit different than the others. If you’re up to date with my videos and follow me on social media, you know that I’ve been talking about a secret partnership for a while”**.  She’s wearing her favorite t-shirt, a bright green one that has _Be your own kind of beautiful_ embroidered in cross stitch and matches her eyes.

 **“You’ve seen that I had a few meetings in the last couple of weeks and that I kept saying that I wasn’t allowed to tell you guys what it was about just yet. Well, guess what? I can finally tell you what it is! I’m so excited, so, so, so excited because this is going to be a whole new challenge for me”.** Tessa claps her hands repeatedly, something she does when she’s really excited.

 **"I’m pretty sure some of you will make fun of me for my lack of knowledge regarding this… hm… thing, - as you’ve seen if you’re an Everyday Virtue OG - but I promise you I’m doing my homework and you know how much of a nerd I am, right? Let’s go right to the point: I’m partnering up again with Casper, the company that sells the absolute best pillows and mattresses ever, just like this one I’m sitting on right now".** And points to the very neat bed she's sitting on, with the fluffiest bedding every one of her subscribers have ever seen. Her room is the scenario for most of her videos. 

 **"And you know who else they sponsor? The Maple Leafs! So Casper asked me if I’d be game for - no puns intended - creating content involving the team! So for the next couple of weeks, you’ll see a lot of the Maple Leafs here on “Virtuous Life” and, of course, on “Everyday Virtue” as well. This is so exciting, really, even though I know absolutely nothing about hockey, but hey, I didn’t have a clue of how to cook when I started partering up with President’s Choice and you all saw how that turned out, right?".**  It was definitely a _rocky_ start, considering she managed to burn rice live on youtube right on her first sponsored video by the brand.

 **"I could easily be on Master Chef right now. OK, not that far yet, but I’m getting better, guys, I promise. But let’s go back to hockey!** **This whole journey begins with an interview with one of the players and you - yes, you! - get to choose which one!".**  She knows none of them, meaning she has nothing against any of them, so she can be that excited without sounding fake. 

 **"All you have to do is send me a tweet with the player’s twitter handle and the hashtag #TessaXCasper. The most mentioned player is going to on my next main channel video. Don’t forget, you have to use the hashtag and mention your favorite Maple Leaf’s player. You can tweet as soon as this video goes live and the 'competition'"** - She air quotes this - **"** **ends on Friday, so I can interview the winner on the weekend and post the video for you on Monday. You have four days, there’s plenty of time, so use them wisely!"**. She smiles to the camera, giving a thumbs up with both her hands. 

**"This is all for today’s video, thank you so much for all the support, for watching these videos, it means a lot to me. If you haven’t subscribed yet, please do, and we’ll see each other again here next week, with all things hockey! Don’t forget to follow me on social media, I’m @thevirtuouslife pretty much everywhere! Bye, see you all on “Everyday Virtue!".**

Tessa watches the whole video for the second time after she finished editing it. She’s always careful regarding the content she posts everyday, but when it comes to sponsored ones, it’s double the worry, double the care. She feels responsible for everything she promotes on her channel - as every youtuber should - because she isn’t stupid, she knows people are going to run to the next store to buy the item she talked about on her latest video and that makes her think a lot everytime a new brand approaches her to propose a partnership. It also means that she doesn’t promote a product that she doesn’t like - and that has made her lose a few dollars in the last two years since her channel exploded around the Internet.

“The Virtuous Life”, - that began four years ago as a joke between Tessa and her sister Jordan when she moved to the other side of the world and wanted to keep up with Tessa’s life - has 10 million subscribers from all over the world, her vlog channel has 8 million and her main social media, Instagram, has unbelievable 15 million followers.

Even now, two years after she left her job as a social media content creator for the biggest fashion magazine in Canada to dedicate herself full time to her own content creation, she still can’t wrap her mind around how big this whole thing turned into. Even after designing her own collection of sunglasses and beginning to put together a whole brand of skincare products, she still feels the same girl that just wanted to show her sister how she was living her life in her early years as an adult.

While the video is uploading on Youtube, she edits the thumbnail with the video title: “THE SECRET PARTNERSHIP ANNOUNCEMENT” and as soon as both are ready and the video is up, she makes sure to post the link on her social media. Everytime she does this - edits a main channel video, put together a thumbnail, uploads a video and tell everyone about it - she follows a ritual: prepares her favorite tea, peppermint, finds whatever cookie flavour her mom decided to send her that week, gather the mug and the cookies and puts an episode of Younger on.

It doesn’t matter that she knows the first two seasons by heart now, she simply can’t stop watching it. During those minutes, she doesn’t check her e-mails or any of her social media accounts, it’s only her, great tea, delicious cookies and Liza Miller’s messed up love life.

Sometimes, like today, she treats herself with another episode. _It doesn’t hurt to spend more minutes watching it, right?_ Well… she had no idea that after those couple of hours, when she decides to check her twitter mentions to see if the fans are engaging with hashtag, pretty much all of the mentions - and there are thousands of them showing up every second - are saying that she has to rethink the rules for the “contest” because - apparently - their favorite Maple Leafs player is not on social media, so he doesn’t have a twitter handle.

When she sees it, her first reaction is to tweet this:

  **@TheVirtuousLife: It’s 2018. How can someone stay out of social media? What are you doing with your time?**

  

He was leaving his condo’s gym almost late to practice, wearing sweaty clothes, feeling like he could eat 90 burgers and still be hungry, regretting every single beer he drank over the weekend that made him work twice as hard today, when he looked at his phone and saw a message: **5 missed calls from Cara** , his favorite cousin (don’t tell the other 100 that) and personal assistant (or as she likes to say, _personal life saver_ ). He wondered if he’s forgotten about any meetings or - God forbid - photoshoots that day. Well, if he did and was late for that, he could as well ignore it and later send a bouquet of flowers or a box of chocolate to whoever he disappointed this time, right? So he ignored it.

 10 minutes and a very fast shower later, he realizes Cara’s still trying to reach him and finally answers her call.

 “Good afternoon, life saver!” - He puts it on speaker to be able to finish getting ready for practice while talking to Cara.

 “You bet I’m your life saver, Scott Moir. You bet. I hope I can actually save you this time, I’m trying to reach you for the last couple of hours and a couple of hours on Internet time is like two decades, so I really hope I can save your nasty ass this time.” - She said without stopping to breathe.

 “What happened? And did you say “Internet”? You know I hate that thing.” - He practically screamed while putting his shoes on the other side of the room.

 “TESSA VIRTUE CALLED YOU OUT ON TWITTER!” - And he thanked God he was listening to her on speaker. He could probably become deaf after hearing her screams.

 “Can you please calm down? And who the hell is Teresa Virtue? Am I supposed to know her? Is she my new girlfriend according to those lovely blogs you keep telling me about and I keep telling you that I don’t care?”

 “It’s _Tessa_ Virtue, Scott. _Tessa_ Virtue. And she’s the most famous blogger in Canada. Like, she’s a big time blogger. This is huge.”

 “Oh, she’s a blogger.” He says in an ironic tone. “Is she one of those girls that you watch that talk about new, revolutionary pricy products they never use but you should definitely buy them? That have millions of disciples on the Internet?

 “They’re not _disciples_ , Scott. They’re called f _ollowers_.” - She sounds impatient.

 “Whatever. And Twitter? Is it like the Facebox thing?” - He asks while he closes his door and heads to the elevator.

 “No, because you don’t have to pretend you have a perfect life on Twitter. Everyone there is pretty much who they actually are. Sometimes this is good, sometimes it’s bad, but that’s life. And I’m not here to lecture you on what Twitter is, just to tell you that I’m creating an account for you so you can answer her.”

 “And what did she say about me?”

 “Well, she hasn’t exactly mentioned you, but everyone knows she’s talking about you.”

 “Care to explain?” - The signal was a little bit off once he got in the elevator, but he thinks he’s heard most of what she said.

 “She said: ‘It’s 2018. How can someone stay out of social media? What are you doing with your time?'”

 “And you assumed that I’m the only person on planet Earth who does not have social media? She could be talking about anyone!” - He laughs. _How dare he?_ Cara thinks.

 “She is! I’m going to send you a link to her latest video and you’ll promise me you’ll watch it. You’ll be able to understand why the whole population of Canada that has Twitter also thinks that she’s talking about you. And I’m also sending your Twitter handle and password. Do not answer it without talking to me first, okay? Promise?”

 “Do I really have to answer this… what is it called?”

 “ _Tweet_ , Scott. And _yes_ , you have to answer this.”

 “But you realize it would seem that I decided to be on social media because of her, right?”

 “Yes and trust me, that wouldn’t hurt your image. So please stop whatever it is that you’re doing and watch the video. BYE!” - And she finishes the call.

 

Whatever it was, it could wait until he’s back home from practice. When that happens, he sees more missed calls from Cara, but ignores it and clicks on the first link she’s sent him. A beautiful green-eyed woman appeared on his phone screen. Is she the one calling him out? Well, he was about to do some research.

An hour later, without calling Cara and after he figured out how to answer Tessa’s tweet by searching on Google “how to answer a tweet”, he sent this:

  **@ScottMoir: @TheVirtuousLife Well, I guess you’ll find out once we meet for the interview this weekend. P.s: I spend my free time doing a lot of things like cooking, so I know how not to burn rice live on Youtube.**

And a few seconds later he tweets again: 

**@ScottMoir: I almost forgot. @TheVirtuousLife I nominate @ScottMoir. #TessaXCasper**


	2. And the winner is...

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Tessa reveals the winner of the Casper's "competition" and decides to do some research of her own.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I WAS SO NOT READY for the first chapter's reaction. You made me tear up with those amazing comments and I hope to make your expectations some justice. Thank you so much and hope you enjoy this new chapter! Make sure to tell me what you thought of it. :) 
> 
> I feel like I need to say again that I know absolutely nothing about hockey and would love to know if I'm making any mistakes here. I have no idea of how the teams buy their players and if there's a window for them to do it, or how many years have passed since the Leafs reached the 2nd place at the Stanley Cup. SEND HELP!!! My life would be a lot easier if Scott was a soccer player. 
> 
> You can also find me on Twitter at @carlammenezes

**“You’ve just watched yesterday’s vlog, this is me today, Friday, adding to the vlog something you’ve been clearly very excited about this week. Don’t worry, I’m vlogging today as well, and it should be up tomorrow by 5 p.m, as always. So of course you guys want to know the result of the “competition” and who will be part of my next main channel video that’s supposed to be uploaded on Monday. I don’t think this is going to sound very surprising to you after…”,** she checks the number on her phone, showing the camera her golden case, “ **exact 800.989 tweets using this person’s name and, dare I say, newly created twitter handle. It’s number 14, Scott Moir.”** She uses her “I-need-to-sound-excited-voice”, aware that her die-hard fans will notice she’s feeling quite the opposite.

“ **I think this is going to be a lot of fun considering I just read his latest tweet and he seems to be very…”** , she pauses to think of a better word,“ **...acquainted with my videos, right?”.** And then she laughs. There’s a cut to her next phrase. “ **And now that we know which player you chose, I’m gonna ask for your help again. What challenge would you like us to film for you? Send me your suggestions using the hashtag #TessaXCasper and I’ll make sure to read them and try to pick the best one. So hit me with your best shot! This is all for today, guys, subscribe to the channel if you haven’t already and make sure to follow me on social media at @TheVirtuousLife.”**

She seems to remember something and right after the cut, she says: **“Oh, about social media… I’d like to end today’s vlog with a question: If you’re not on social media, what do you do with your time?”** She winks and the video ends.

After she finishes editing the vlog, she makes her tea and decides she’s going to skip the rewatch of Younger that day. After all, she has to _study_ . Oh, she’s so ready to do her own research on Scott Moir. _Google, show me what you’ve got on him,_ she thinks while she types his name on her iPad.

And is surprised to see her own name right there. A few headlines mentioned her and they so-called “Twitter beef”: 

 

 

> **“Scott Moir joins Twitter after Tessa Virtue’s diss tweet”** , was the title of a Huffpost article.
> 
> **“You can now follow Scott Moir on Twitter (and you won’t believe which blogger you have to thank for it)”** , said the CBC website. She goes to the second results page, ignoring it. The first link was a buzzfeed Canada quiz asking “Which one of Scott Moir’s girlfriends are you?”. Even though she doesn’t answer it, she finds out later that she is the one he actually wants to stick with.

A good couple of hours later - with her tea completely abandoned by her bedside table - Tessa involuntarily makes a mental list of the things she’s found out about him.

1 - He is a serial dater. (That buzzfeed quiz and the innumerous articles about his love life made him deserve that title. He apparently had a new “serious” and mysterious girlfriend every couple of weeks.)

2 - He is indeed a skillful player. (In the middle of many articles talking about his personal life, she’s found a few that described how he stood out from the rest of the other team members. He was officially a center, but according to some NHL websites that seemed pretty important, he could play (and play well) at any position, an all-around player that could score and play defense at the same time.

3 - He is cocky (and she knew that from his now-famous second tweet at her, no need to deepen the research regarding this one)

4 - He is loyal (or very dumb, she couldn’t make up her mind on this one) - Scott’s been playing for the Leafs for three years now and other big teams have offered millions and millions of dollars to buy him after last season, when they placed 2nd at the Stanley Cup, something the team hasn’t achieved in more than 50 years. He has politely declined. The Maple Leafs were his home.  

Can she come back to number three and add that he isn’t cocky, he is _really_ cocky? She watches a few seconds of some post game interviews and the word is written all over his face. He knows he’s good and he isn’t shy (or humble) about it. Poor interviewers.

 _Wait._ That would be her sometime soon. _For who do I have to pray for this whole video thing to be cancelled?_

She also finds out that he’s a family guy, but that’s a very good thing about him (and unrelated to his natural hockey skills) and she doesn’t think it should be a part of her list. She comes across a few pictures of his brothers hugging him after some huge win and realizes his family has very strong genes considering how he and his brothers and the lady right beside them (Tessa thinks it’s his mother) look exactly alike. And now she feels like a stalker. _But I’m about to shoot a video with the guy, I need to know what to ask him, right?_

When she finds a Christmas calendar with very sexy pictures of the Leafs players - the website said it was for charity - and spends a few minutes wondering why Scott is the only one who isn’t shirtless and isn’t looking like he’s having the time of his freaking life, she decides it’s time to stop and do some actual work, so she opened her twitter app and started reading the tweets mentioning the hashtag #TessaXCasper. It was time to do a real list of pros and cons.

1 - Chubby Bunny Challenge? How old was she?

2 - Guess That Song Challenge? No, _thank you so much_ , she’d rather die than to sing in front of Scott Moir. (She’d definitely sing to him sometime later, but she doesn’t know about it yet).

3 - Read Thirsty Comments? _Maybe I can work with this._ Pros: considering her very _brief_ google search on him, it wouldn’t be difficult to find some examples plus he’d be super embarrassed.  Cons: Maybe he isn’t physically able to feel embarrassment, never heard of it, and actually could think of the comments as a compliment?

She was in the middle of an internal debate when she heard the e-mail alert. It was from the Casper’s marketing team.

Dear Tessa,

We just watched your latest video and absolutely loved it! Keep up the good work! Also, we couldn’t have come up with something as brilliant as this twitter war between you and Scott Moir ourselves. That is spreading the buzz about our partnership organically, it’s amazing, thank you! We look forward to the video shoot. It’s going to happen tomorrow, Saturday, 3 p.m, at the Air Canada Centre. Scott will be there preparing for the match against the Boston Bruins that’s going to happen that night. You’re more than welcome to stay and watch the game (and include it on your vlog, of course). You’ll have fifteen minutes with him because it’s game day and he can’t waste any time (although we’ve heard he’s very excited to film the video and opted to spend these 15 minutes filming it instead of having a much deserved break). We’ll send you a jersey, it should be delivered soon. We will also send you another e-mail with Moir’s personal assistant, Cara Moir, contact information. Just in case you want to talk to her about the video content. Once again, thank you!

    - Leisa Rosenthal

      Head of Marketing 

It was a Casper’s sponsored video after all and it would be nice to use one of their products on camera, right? But what challenge could they film using mattresses or pi… _oh_! She was about to answer Leisa’s e-mail asking if the marketing team could bring a few pillows to the shoot tomorrow.

Later that night, she checks her Twitter for the last time before going to bed and notices that the _winner_ has spoken. He failed to mention her _or just didn’t care_ but a lot of people retweeted it mentioning her.

**@ScottMoir: Holy shit! (Am I allowed to curse on Twitter?) How do you say it? 800.989 tweets? Mentions? Messages?**

She reads his tweet, followed by a gif of fellow canadian Ryan Reynolds receiving a Teen Choice Awards surfboard and bowing down to the audience in front of him. _Definitely cocky._

\-----------xxx----------

 **“I’m about to leave the house to go to the Air Canada Centre, but wanted to show you guys my look first”**. She turns the camera from her face to the huge mirror in the middle of her closet. The background looks like something straight out of “Confessions of a Shopaholic”. The girl loves her clothes and accessories (specially her shoes) and she ain’t gonna lie.

Thank God she has to wear a Maple Leafs t-shirt to film the video. She isn’t feeling like putting together a whole outfit just for it. **“As you’ve seen on my insta stories, Casper has kindly sent me this very cool t-shirt…** ”, she points to the simple blue t-shirt with the team’s logo in white. And then she thinks it could’ve been even worse than having to spend more time choosing the right outfit: they could’ve sent her a jersey with Scott’s number on it. _Can you imagine?_ She sees the her own disgusted face expression on the mirror and makes a mental note to cut those last few seconds from the final edit of the vlog.

 **“I’m wearing my white pantacourt from Zara and I’m pretty sure Jordan is going to comment on this video saying that these pants can probably walk around Toronto by themselves at this point considering how many times I’ve worn it in the last couple of weeks”,** she laughs for a second and then continues, trying to look very serious: “ **So, yeah, I’m in love with this pantacourt and will probably marry her sometime soon. I’ll make sure to send the RSVPs to everyone who signs my newsletter, so make sure to pay attention to your e-mails, eh?”.** Considering how _great_ she is at dating in general, you can count on her to have more chances at a serious relationship with an article of clothing than with a human being.

 _Really, can someone marry an inanimate object? It won’t make me a lot of questions I can’t answer, won’t make me meet its family, or God forbid go filthy bars every friday night when all I want to do is stay home drinking a glass - or maybe more - of good wine and watching Jeopardy._ Has she said that out loud? On camera? She doesn’t really know. If she didn’t, she’s sure her face looked just like Raven’s when she was about to have a vision, so maybe this whole part is going to be cut from the vlog.

 **“Where was I? Yeah, my look. Of course the sneakers are Adidas.”** The camera is pointed to her face again. **“This is my summer makeup routine, the same one I’ve shown you guys on my main channel two weeks ago, I’ll make sure to put the link down below for those of you who missed it. This is basically just primer, foundation, a little bit of concealer, blush and the pink lipstick from MAC that I’m obsessed about, this one is called Plumful.”**

And then she unconsciously starts humming to the song that’s playing in the room. **“I just love this song, can you hear it? I hope you can’t, otherwise I’ll have to cut this bit to prevent the video from being demonetized. It’s ‘When I Grow Up’ by the Pussycat Dolls. I just miss them so much”,** she closes her eyes and makes a longing face.

 **“This song is on my ‘Run The World’ playlist, the one I always listen to before I have to make something slightly out of my comfort zone. Do you have a song that makes you feel all powerful and ready to conquer the world? Tell me in the comments so I can add them to my playlist, please.”**  She wouldn’t lie to her viewers, that was a nerve-wracking situation. Ok, she wouldn’t use this exact words, but they needed to know it was something she wasn’t that comfortable doing.

She still prefers shooting her own videos in her own bedroom, by herself, but ever since the main channel reached its first million subscribers, she came across a lot of amazing opportunities that - unfortunately for her very introspective self - involved live interviews, red carpets and photoshoots, all of which she wasn’t very fond of and made her really anxious. She was very good in all of it, though. No one could say she wasn’t a natural at it.

Everytime she admitted in interviews that, in fact, she was a very shy person, they’d ask how she managed to post her videos knowing that she had an audience of more than 10 million people. Because she _is_ shy, interacting with a camera - in the sacred space that’s her house - means that she can be herself, make a lot of friends and a living out of it without having to actually interact with a real live audience.

On the next sequence, she’s leaving her car and walking right into the arena. **“Just arrived at the Air Canada Centre. I’m looking for Daisy, she should be somewhere around here…”** and then she really starts looking for the lovely freelance camerawoman she always hires when she needs to shoot a video outside of her bedroom. The camera finds Daisy before Tessa does. **“Hey! There you are. Say hi to the viewers, D!”**. She turns the camera off after Daisy waves. She’d have plenty of time to film the arena between her 15 minutes with Scott and the actual game, that would only start a few hours later.

He was 20 minutes late. She would credit it to traffic if she didn’t know that he was already at the building. She wonders what excuse he’s going to use. _Sorry, got stuck on the elevator._ Or even better, _sorry, someone accidentally hit me with a puck._

Everything was set. The Casper’s team had brought the pillows she asked - she had four back on her car in case they’ve forgotten - the lighting was tested, she’s checked the extra batteries, the camera was set on the tripod and Daisy already had the second camera in her hands. Cara, who Tessa thinks is a nice girl and probably deserves a better job - or a better boss - is constantly checking her phone and saying “he will be here on five minutes”. She’s said that three times and apparently gave up.

“We’re going to take a few pictures of you to post on our social media accounts, if that’s okay with you two”, says Leisa, the head of marketing at Casper. Tessa knew she was being polite, considering she’s signed a contract with them, gave her image rights, and they could take any picture they want to post to wherever they felt like.  What she didn’t know was if Scott had this obligation as well. He could probably say no. Cara was about to say something when he stormed into the room looking like he was literally running from a hurricane.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about but it is not a problem for me. Hello, I’m Scott.” And he shook hands with every crew member before he was right in front of Tessa. “Hello, I’m…”

“Nice to meet you, Scott.”, Tessa interrupted him.

“I know”. He answers and looks like he’s waiting for a certain reaction from her. When she opens her mouth to speak and chooses to not say anything, he starts laughing.

“Is there a problem?” Maybe there’s something wrong with her face? Is her makeup melting? _But it’s freezing in here._

“I’m sorry, it was meant to be a joke. Nice to meet you too, Tessa. The pleasure is mine.” She didn’t like the guy, it was official. _What a presumptuous, narcissistic bastard,_ she thought.

  
And right in front of her, the only thing that man could think of was: _Why is she so goddamn beautiful?_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Up next: 
> 
> “@TheVirtuousLife: @ScottMoir Is this a challenge, Moir?”  
> “@ScottMoir: @TheVirtuousLife It depends. Do you want it to be?”


	3. The Pillow Fight Challenge

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Scott and Tessa learn more about each other. He's enchanted, but her... not that much. 
> 
> Or Scott messes up. Again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have no words to thank you enough for all the lovely comments and amazing reaction to the first chapters. You have no idea of what it means to me, really. When you leave a comment saying how these chapters made you laugh, that is music to my ears. That's my main goal here: to make you laugh with and at those characters, so THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU.  
> As you can see, the chapter count now has a question mark, so yeah, we'll have more than 5 chapters (but I still don't know how many). Let's see where youtuber Tessa takes me and for how long you'll put up with my nonsense and bad English.  
> THANK YOU!

“I have to be honest with you. when Cara told me we were doing a Pillow Fight challenge, I wondered how the hell you would bring a bed to the arena, but it seems like we’re doing it on the couch.” He stops laughing as soon as he looked at a slightly shocked Tessa and realized how that sounded like. ”Not what I mea…”

“It’s okay. I know.” She didn’t. _What a great start, Scott._ “We only have a few minutes with you, so let’s get started. Is everything set, Daisy?” The girl nods and Tessa takes a deep breath, preparing herself mentally to begin filming.

 “Hey guys! This is the moment you’ve all been waiting for since I announced the partnership with Casper. Sitting right next to me is the winner of the Twitter contest, Maple Leafs’ center player Scott Moir.” She gives the camera a half smile, trying to look excited and failing a little bit. He realizes that’s his cue and starts speaking to the same camera.  

“Hello, Internet people.” _Really, Scott? Internet people?_   “I’m sorry, I’m not used to this.” He looks slightly embarrassed, his cheeks turning red. She chooses to ignore it.

“It was really hard to choose the perfect challenge, you’ve sent me a lot of great suggestions. In the end, I chose the one that had some sort of connection to the Casper’s products and that is…” She bends to grab one of the pillows that are lying on the floor, out of the camera frame, and shakes it in front of the camera. “Pillow fight challenge!”

“Am I allowed to arm myself already?” And if there’s someone genuinely excited at that moment, that is Scott Moir.

“Yes, but I need to tell everyone how the challenge works before we start.” She sees that he carefully deposits one of the pillows on his lap. “Each of us has a card containing five questions related to our professional lives, so I’ll have to answer five questions about Scott and his job and vice versa. Every time one of us answers incorrectly, the person who asked the question has the right to hit the other with a pillow.” And if she chose that challenge because it meant that she could come close to actually physically hurting him, she wouldn’t dare to admit it. “Any questions?” She looks at Scott.

“Actually, I do. How can I be sure that you haven’t seen these questions before? This is your channel after all.”

“Because I’m an _honest_ person, Scott. The Casper’s team came up with the questions and they even asked Cara…” she looks at the camera in Daisy’s hand, as if she’s speaking to her viewers and continues “Cara is his assistant, if there were any off-limit topics.”

“Which I’m sure she said no. My life is an open book.” _As if,_ Cara thinks at the other side of the room. “Alright, let the games begin.”

 Having no answer for that, Tessa decides to continue.“Before we start, I have to say something quickly. You could use a polyester pillow to play this challenge, but using a feather pillow is much more fun and that’s what we have here. Don’t do this at home using foam pillows, they’re heavy and you could injure yourself or your… opponent. You don’t want to do that.” _Maybe I do_ , Tessa thinks. Right next to her, her opponent’s mind is going wild: _at least she was worried about not hurting me, right? Or maybe she was trying to protect herself? Focus, Scott. Focus._

“And I know you must me thinking: but they know nothing about each other, there’s no way this game is gonna work! But at this point we both know he’s been doing some research on me, right? The rice incident? I’m sure Scott will be just fine.” _She’s the devil,_ it’s what he thinks as she gives him his card. “Are you ready?”

“Bring it on.”

“Do you want to start?”

“Ladies first.”

“Alright, then”. She repositions herself on the couch, clears her throat and starts reading. “Oh, this is an easy one, but you can’t look.” Tessa turns her face away from him. “What color are my eyes?” She knew he wouldn’t lose this one, but could never predict how he gave his answer.

“Green. Gorgeous green.” _Did I say that out loud?_

She immediately turns back to face him again, a small smile appearing on her face. It has disappeared just as quickly and he doesn’t know if it was just his imagination of if she actually smiled.

“That was too easy, guys!” She looks at the marketing team behind the camera. “My first one has to be that easy as well.” Tessa jokes and makes a gesture indicating that it is his turn now.

“How old am I?” He looks at Tessa, expectantly. He notices how she bites her lip and raises her left eyebrow, deep in thought. “I must warn you this is a very sensitive topic for me.” He puts his hand on his chest as if he was trying to hold his heart. _OK, he can be funny._ Tessa is surprised to hear her own laugh. He smirks. _So this is how she looks when she laughs._

He makes a mental note to try to make her laugh again. _After all, she seems like such a tense person, she could use some laughs, right? It would be strictly for health purposes._ She coughs deliberately to bring back his attention and she manages to do just so, right before he’d start thinking about becoming _Dr. Laugh_.

“Hm... My guess is twenty-eight?” And then she shakes her head. “No,Twenty-nine?” He didn’t look much older than her.

“That’s your final guess?” He always wanted to say this classical game show phrase and sounds very proud for finally doing so.

“Yes.”

“Well, thank you, but I’m actually thirty.” She doesn’t have time to prepare for the hit. It’s not that hard, but her mouth was open and she’s pretty sure she has feathers in it now. He has the _audacity_ to laugh of her failed attempts to remove the feathers from her tongue. Tessa gives him a _look_ and reads the next question.

“How many followers does Everyday Virtue have?” _There’s no way he knows the answer to this._

“36 million?”, he says after thinking for a few seconds. She gives a small smile - for the camera, not for him, he notices.

“Thank you for thinking that the whole canadian nation watches my videos, but no. The answer is 8 million.” _She’s so damn smart,_ it’s his thought as soon as he realizes how quickly she gave him this very nerdy answer. Scott can’t help but notice how she looks like a small child about to do something naughty. Naughty is definitely not an appropriate word to be thinking of at this moment. Definitely not.

As soon as she hit him with the pillow, she knows that moment will become a popular gif between her viewers. It was a true feather explosion. When the feathers settle down on the couch, floor and all over Scott’s hair, she says:

“Your turn.”

 

“How many siblings do I have?” Without thinking twice, she answers:

“Two. Danny and Charlie.” And then she stops for a second, surprised with how fast she remembered it. _He’s going to think I’m a stalker. Way to go, Virtue!_ He looks at the camera that’s settled on the tripod and says:

“At this point, you know she’s been doing some research on me as well, right?” He leaves her speechless. The crew erupts in laughter. _Even you, Daisy? You traitor. There he goes again with a smirk on his face._

“Next question. What’s the title of my first book?” It hasn’t been published yet, but she had already announced it. 

“Hm, let me think for a second here.” _She is so smart._ “What is your book about? Is it fiction?” He actually seems interested.

“No, it’s just me giving tips on lifestyle in general.”

“Alright. Since your channel is ‘The Virtuous Life’, my guess is ‘Living Virtuously’.” He looks hopeful.

“Sorry, it’s actually ‘Living the Virtuous Life’”.

“You gotta admit my title is a pretty good one, right?”

“I’ll keep that in mind if I ever write another one.” She pouts a little when she hits him and the pillow stays intact. He shrugs. _Will that smirk ever leave his face?_

It’s his turn now. She keeps waiting for the “How many girlfriends have I had” question so she could answer “a zillion”, but it never comes.

“What is my biggest fear?” And then Tessa bursts out laughing. She knows the answer to this one thanks to one of the buzzfeed articles she had read about him.

“She got this, guys.” And he is blushing again. He is aware of how ridiculous his only fear is, but is surprised to know that somewhere on the Internet someone had written something about it. “It’s a daily struggle, as you can imagine”, Scott tells her.

“Oh my God, I’m so sorry.” _I’m not sorry._ And the giggles keep coming. “It’s mascots. You’re afraid of mascots.” She manages to speak in between laughs. Tessa notices Daisy trying to contain her own laugh. _Tessa, two. Scott, one._ “I’ve got this.” She says as she tries to recover herself.

“If I wasn’t a lifestyle blogger, what would I be?” _A fucking beautiful model_ , is his first thought.

“I have no idea. Do I get a pass? Is there a chance I could call someone for help?” He is so invested in this that he really thinks this is a game show.

“Unfortunately not.” She can’t even pretend she’s sorry for him. “But you could guess?” And he immediately knows that he better think of a good answer.

“You’re a lifestyle blogger, so you probably like house decoration and could be an interior designer, right? But you also talk about beauty products, so maybe a cosmetologist? Is that even a word? As you can see…” He points at his face. “I don’t follow the beauty trends that much.” Tessa looks at Daisy, who at first seemed like she was about to laugh, but actually was enchanted by him and had an expression that could only be described as swoony. _She really is a traitor._

“You have to pick one”, he’s wrong either way, but he has to choose.

“I’ll go with my first instinct. An interior designer.” He shows his crossed fingers to the camera in Daisy’s hand.

“Sorry, I would actually be involved in marketing. When I was little, I wanted to be a ballet dancer, so you had two shots here.” He wants to ask her why she seemed a little upset when she mentioned the ballet part, but decides to let it go.

“I had a couple of ballet classes way back then when my mom tried to convert me into an ice dancer. I didn’t have any chance at it, my body is incapable of dancing.” Scott has no idea why he’s suddenly talking about his childhood, but he is. She notices he’s a little bit embarrassed - for the hundredth time in the last 10 minutes and points to his card as if to say _come on, let’s move past this._

“This is interesting. What Zodiac sign am I?” He seems confused. “Wait, I actually _don’t_ know the answer to this.” He starts looking for Cara, who looks like she knows the answer. “A little help here?”

“Wait, let me guess it first.” Tessa says. She isn’t much of an expect when it comes to zodiac signs, but she could swear he was a Leo. _A little pretentious, somewhat arrogant…_ “You are a Leo.” Cara, being a fan of astrology herself, bursts out laughing.

“He can be such a Leo sometimes, but he is a Virgo.” And if Tessa had time, she would wander about this new piece of information. Maybe later.

“Okay, Moir. Hit me with your best shot.” So he did. But still, _Scott, one. Tessa, two._

“This is the last question in my card. What is my middle name?”

“Let’s pray Wikipedia is right for once. I’ve made an instant connection to Spiderman’s Mary Jane when I read that, so yeah, I actually know this one. It’s Jane.” And if someone asks him, he’s so not admitting he has a crush on Kirsten Dunst’s character.

“It’s a tie, guys, but I still have a chance of winning this challenge, so let’s go!”

“Last one for me. This is hockey related.” The card says ‘ _Scott Moir is a Pepper Pot. What does it mean?’_ , but there’s no way he’d read it that way. “What is a Pepper Pot?”

“What?”

“A Pepper Pot. In hockey, we say certain players are pepper pots. What does it mean?”

“I don’t have a clue. If it’s a pepper, it leads me to the word spicy, so maybe it’s an energetic player? A fast player?” It’s a long shot, but she could be right.

“You’re right! It’s a player with both speed and quickness.” He tells her and maybe for the first time during those few minutes she has a huge smile on her face. _She likes to know she’s right._ Before he could say anything else, they hear a knock on the door.

 

“I’m sorry, but the reporters are waiting for Scott at the press conference room.” Says a guy that looks like he works for the maple leafs - considering his outfit and badge - with an apologetic expression on his face.

“Sean, Scott will be there in two minutes.” Cara answers and leaves the room with the man.

“I’m sorry”, Scott tells Tessa.

“It’s fine, I’ll just finish the video quickly. Can I continue, D?” And the camerawoman nods. “We have to say goodbye and thank you to Scott Moir. I hope you’ve enjoyed the challenge, Scott.”

“It was a pleasure. I hope I wasn’t that bad in this whole Youtube thing.” He laughs as they shake hands. Tessa tells Daisy it’s time to cut and awkwardly shakes hands with Scott again as they stood up from the couch.

“Thank you for your time, Scott. Now, please hurry, I don’t wanna be in trouble for keeping you here.” And maybe, just maybe, he’s thinking of how he would love to be in trouble with her. The handshake meant that she clearly wasn’t expecting a kiss on her cheek, so he didn’t push it before leaving the room.

**\-------xxxx------**

A few hours later, she’s sitting right next to Daisy in one of the VIP cabins reserved for the sponsors at the arena. They’d just finished shooting the video, with a fun sequence of Tessa realizing she’s actually won the challenge. _Shame on you, Moir_ , it’s what she wanted to say, but decided to stick to a little victory dance across the Air Canada Centre halls. The huge screen in front of her has a countdown and tells her the game starts in five minutes. That’s plenty of time to update her twitter. 

 

 

> **“@TheVirtuousLife: just finished shooting next week’s video with @ScottMoir. I hope he knows now how amazing the Internet is.”**

She tweets again: 

 

 

> **@TheVirtuousLife: Also, you’re asking me for the ‘Run The World’ playlist link, so here it is:** [ **https://open.spotify.com/user/2is0ool2k6eqtmlz7qsv33i86/playlist/3T83v5dTCV1iHwMogr4tM5** ](https://open.spotify.com/user/2is0ool2k6eqtmlz7qsv33i86/playlist/3T83v5dTCV1iHwMogr4tM5) **Enjoy!**

She regrets the minute she thought about checking her mentions. Apparently, a picture of her hitting Scott with a pillow - and smiling while doing so - was posted on Casper’s official instagram account. Her followers were having a field day. 

 

 

> **@Belle_hockey:** **@TheVirtuousLife @ScottMoir MY FAVORITE VLOGGER AND MY FAVORITE HOCKEY PLAYER? IS THIS A DREAM?**
> 
> **@MoirGirl: @ScottMoir @TheVirtuousLife I AM SHOOK. I AM DEAD. PLEASE DO NOT RESUSCITATE ME.**
> 
> **@MyVirtue: @TheVirtuousLife @ScottMoir PLEASE CALL**

Tessa just pretends nothing is happening during the first part of the game. She is focused on watching the match and for the first time in her life having a slight clue of what’s going on. A little after the first intermission is announced, she goes back to Twitter again and just _can’t believe_ in what her eyes are seeing.

 

 

> **“@ScottMoir: @TheVirtuousLife It can be, yes. But someone should show you there is more to life than likes and views, Virtue.”**

And then she types furiously:

 

 

> **“@TheVirtuousLife: @ScottMoir Is this a challenge, Moir?”**

Tessa could swear he was looking right at her from the bench before changing his focus to the phone in his hand. A few seconds later, the reply comes.

 

 

>   
>  **“@ScottMoir: @TheVirtuousLife It depends. Do you want it to be?”**

  **\-------xxxx------**

He felt like drowning his sorrows at home that night, which wasn’t unusual for him. If they win a home game, the team usually ends the night - and begins the very next day - at a pub a few blocks away from the Air Canada Centre. If they don’t win, most of them still go to that place, but Scott isn’t one of those, he goes home, drink a few beers, watches the match and spends the night being his worst critic. Unfortunately, the second one happened way more often than the first.

But it wasn’t like he would be all by himself. The man had company.

“I messed up, Puck. Big time. I was an asshole to her on Twitter, basically said that the girl has no life besides social media, but buddy, was I wrong.” Scott, - shirtless, sitting on the cold floor of his living room, his jersey laying on one of the only four chairs that he has -  looks at his friend very seriously, drinking beer straight from the bottle. _I should’ve bought a couch. Mom is going to kill me when she comes visit again and finds out that I still haven’t got one._

“Those Twitter-people are sending me all those pictures and links of some amazing things she’s done for charity, she’s an ambassador for child education, and let me tell you, apparently she does voluntary work offline. They are telling me about different occasions where they worked with her as volunteers, listen.” He clears his throat as if he was about to start a very long speech. “She was a volunteer at the nursery home where my mom works. When mom asked her for a picture, she said she’d be happy to take it as long as mom wouldn’t post it online”, he finishes reading and takes the last sip of his second beer. He deposits the bottle right next to the first one.

“You could say something, you know.” Scott says and waits for an answer that comes in the form of a bark. “I need to call Cara, is that what you’re trying to tell me, Puck?”, and his black pug barks again, putting his two front paws on Scott’s right leg as if to say _I’m here, go for it._

 

He dials his cousin’s number and puts his phone on speaker because Puck _needs to listen to the whole thing._

“I need to ask you something.” Scott says as soon as she picks up.

“What, Scott? It’s only been a couple of hours since I saw you and you need me again?”, she pretends she’s mad at him. Scott knows that deep down she loves her job as a personal life saver. Puck shakes his tail out of excitement when he listens to her voice. 

“It’s for Tessa. I mean, it’s for me, but it’s for her.” He’s aware that he makes no sense, but before he tries to come up with a more logical way to tell Cara what he needs, she interrupts him.

“Oh my God. You like her. You _like_ Tessa Virtue!”. He could swear he was listening to the sound of her feet hitting the floor. She’s jumping up and down with excitement.

“Whoa, calm down, Cara. It’s not like that. I like her, but I don’t like _like_ her, do you understand? Jesus, I found out she shares her whole life, daily, online”. He sounds like he’s being forced to eat something he doesn’t like. “Is that even healthy? I’ll make sure to ask Dr. Collins that.”

“You’re sure you’re gonna ask your therapist if being a daily vlogger is a healthy thing to do? You’re way deeper in this than I thought, darling.” She laughs. “And don’t you dare tell me the opposite.”

“Just listen to me, okay? I need you to send flowers to her. I mean, it’s not _you_ who will send the flowers, it’s me, but I don’t have her address and I’m sure she mentioned that the Casper’s team reached out to you, so you have their number and could ask them for her address, right? And a card. I just had an idea for this card, it’s a tweet and...”, she interrupts him again. 

“Can I send her roses? Pleeease, Scott, let me send her roses.” He can sense that she’s smiling devilishly on the other side of the phone call.

“No, you’re going to send her peonies. They’re her favourite.” And as soon as he says that, he knows she’ll give him hell for it. He just remembers the fact from his research on her the other day, she was asked about it in one of the interviews he had read. _It’s definitely not a big deal._

“Scott Moir, you know her what her _favourite flowers_ are? Oh, you’re in trouble, my friend.” 

**\-------xxxx------**

Tessa hates early mornings. Always had and probably always will. But she had a mission on that bright Sunday morning and that was to edit not only yesterday’s vlog, but Monday’s main channel video as well. That meant she had to watch and then edit at least an hour of footage that included Scott Moir. _Rise and shine, Tessa._

After a long bath, she went to the kitchen to prepare what was her specialty and pretty much the only thing she was able to cook - if you consider it cooking - before her partnership with President’s Choice and the whole rice incident: french toasts. She was in the middle of the process when her doorbell rang. She looked at the monitor beside the fridge that shows the images from her front door security camera. That was a man she didn’t recognize - a delivery guy - and a bouquet of flowers. _It must be from the Casper’s team,_ it’s what she thinks when she opens the door, thanks the delivery guy, closes the door and then smells the bouquet. The movement she makes to go back to the kitchen makes an envelope fall on the floor. She puts the bouquet carefully on her kitchen counter and decides to read the card. She immediately sees that the card has the layout of a very long tweet and a second later realizes she was wrong. It wasn’t from the Casper’s team, it was from Scott Moir.    

  **@ScottMoir: @TheVirtuousLife thought about sending you some virtual flowers, just like the ones my mother and aunts like to send every morning to our family group chat just to say “good morning”, but I figured you’d like real ones. So, yeah. This is to apologize for my latest tweets. I’d tweet you this, but it seems like people are starting to “ship” us and whatever that means I intend to stay here in Toronto and would very much like to not be shipped anywhere, so I’m sending you a printed tweet instead. Again, I’m sorry.**

**P.s: I realize I’ve used way more than 280 characters and it couldn’t possibly fit in one actual tweet, I’ve read. I have no idea why I’m telling you this, though.**

Her first thought is _I have to hand it to the guy, he’s creative._

And then she notices the smell of burning. The toasts.

_Damn you, Scott Moir._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Up next:
> 
> @VirtuousGirl: OH MY GOD. Look at these two! #TheVirtuousLife
> 
> @Virtue_17: @VirtuousGirl what is the ship name?! Tesscott? Scottessa? #TheVirtuousLife
> 
> @LottieVirtue: @VirtuousGirl @Virtue_17 What about Virtuemoir? #TheVirtuousLife


	4. I've Got This

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Virtuous Life fans (and Tessa's BFF) react to The Pillow Fight Challenge. And Scott... oh Scott. He did it again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Once again, thank you SO MUCH for all of your amazing comments in the first three chapters. You have no idea of how much of a difference each comment makes in my life. I hope I can make justice to all your support. To all of you who clicked on the playlist’s link, realized it was real and followed it on Spotify, I have to say an extra THANK YOU! Do you have a favorite song? Tell me!  
> I have a new twitter account, so now you can reach me at @eversincevm - my friends outside of the fandom were teasing me about all the english tweets, so I decided to create another one to be completely free and freak out (in the best way possible) to all things regarding VM. I would like to add that I came across some lovely tweets about the fic and that also made me soooo happy! My heart nearly explodes each time I see one of you recommending this fic! It means a lot.  
> This one is a little bit shorter than the last, but I hope you enjoy what I did with the help of some nice websites to make this all a little bit more “real”. I also have to thank the amazing @claire_smh for the help with my English questions. Love you!  
> And now I have to stop talking (or typing) so you can finally read the chapter, right? Here you go!

**“I wanna dedicate some time in this vlog to just talk to you about something really important and something so powerful that we should talk about it more often. And** **_practice it,_ ** **we should definitely practice it as well:** **_apologizing_ ** **. I feel like we can start a conversation about it and it could be a beautiful thing.”** She’s sitting in a chair in her kitchen, looking at the camera that’s in the counter right in front of her. A few cooking books are positioned to make sure the camera stays still.

**“Did you know that the act of apologizing to someone is good for your health? When you admit you’re wrong and when you are brave enough to say you’re sorry, you get rid of this huge weight that sometimes can be so strong that can actually make you sick. The guilt can consume you and make you stressed, not able to sleep well or eat well… the list goes on.”** She pauses for a bit to go to the counter and check if the camera frame is right. She’s back on the chair a few seconds later.

**“I’m not trying to play a self-help guru here, don’t get me wrong. It’s just that I think everyone can relate to this at some point and just a small act like calling or texting someone, sending chocolates or** **_flowers_ ** **could be enough to solve things and move on.** ” She looks at the peonies in a crystal vase on the table right next to her and takes a deep breath.

Of course the reason for the apology that they symbolize isn’t that bad, would never cause _the hockey player_ to lose any sleep, but Tessa thought she could spread some positivity and maybe inspire a few of her viewers to consider apologizing for any mistakes they’ve could possibly have done. It truly was a beautiful thing to do, and she meant what she said: it makes you move on. That’s how she felt about the whole _number 14 of the Maple Leafs_ situation. She would post the challenge video and that’s it. She’d move on and would no more feud with him on social media. _No more_.

**“All it matters is being humble enough to ask and admit you were wrong while doing so. It makes us better people, better humans. Apologizing is indeed a virtue.”** Tessa keeps talking about the power of an apology and decides to post a picture of the flowers on her insta stories. The camera is still on and she shows which editing app and filters she’s using on the photo. When she’s finished, she realizes she actually doesn’t know what has made Scott apologize.

Tessa wonders for a little bit, but is interrupted by her alarm telling her it’s 4 p.m and it’s time to post the main channel video. It’s already uploaded on youtube, all she does is turn it from unlisted to public. She feels relieved once she tweets the link to the video and it’s title: **Pillow Fight Challenge with Scott Moir - #TessaXCasper**. It means she’s free.

Well, almost. She still had to send an e-mail to the Casper’s marketing team with the link to the video. And that’s what she did, but she still felt like something was missing, like she still had something _else_ to do. _Maybe I should let him know I’ve got the flowers._ But she didn’t have his number and there’s no way on earth she’d ask the marketing team for it. That’s how she ended up sending Casper’s another e-mail asking for Cara’s phone number. _It’s safer this way_ . _And I could just tell her the video is up and casually mention the flowers._

 

_And now I’m done._

A couple hours later, she’s in her living room, vlogging camera in her right hand, hair up in her signature ponytail. **“You guys. It’s been literally just two hours since I posted the challenge video and it has hit 1 million views.** **_A million views._ ** **I don’t know what to say. I’m going to read some of your tweets and give you shout outs on this vlog as a thank you. Let me just grab my phone here…”** She realizes she’s sitting on her phone and laughs at herself. **“Okay, so let’s see your tweets!”**

And that’s what she saw as soon as she opened her Twitter app and searched for the channel’s hashtag.

It’s safe to say that hasn’t made the cut into her Monday vlog.

When she was ready to go to bed, she sees her bestfriend’s name on her phone screen. A facetime call from Kaitlyn, her partner in crime, one of her favourite people in the world. Tessa likes to say they became friends the second they saw each other at the fashion magazine they both worked at. Kaitlyn still works there. Every time Tessa tells the story of how they met, she says it’s a lie. And it was. Kaitlyn being a people-person, as outgoing as someone can be, and Tessa being an introvert with no interest in a busy social life didn’t exactly make things easy. It took some time before they could call each other a friend. Somehow they make it work. Except for situations like this phone call. Here’s how it went:

“Is he really that hot? Oh my God, when you hit him for the first time and there he was with that soft, fluffy-in-the-sexiest-way-possible-hair... and that smile? _Damn_ , that smile. Why don’t you go out with him? Have you made any plans? He’s single, right?” Tessa is sure that her friend hasn’t stopped to breathe, just talked as fast as a machine gun as soon as she picked up her phone.

“Hello to you too, Kaitlyn. And plans for what? To murder him? I’ll gladly accept the title of ‘the only woman in Toronto who hasn’t dated Scott Moir’, thank you very much.” Tessa hears Kaitlyn’s deep breath on the other end. “You don’t even know him. He is terrible, Kait. The _worst_.”

“But he’s sent you flowers. And don’t you dare tell me they’re not from him, Tessa. _Apologizing is a virtue?_ Right after your little feud thing on Twitter and your fans sending him a bunch of links to your charity work?”

“Oh, they did that?”

“You haven’t seen it? Jesus.” Kaitlyn shakes her head disapprovingly.

“I mean, he apologized, but…”

“I _knew_ it.” Tessa would never admit to her, but she was always right.

“But I didn’t exactly know why.”

“And they’re totally zooming in on a piece of paper that appears on your kitchen table for less than half a second when you’re walking around with your camera because they believe it’s the card that came with the flowers and they _need_ to know who’s sent them.”

“I told you not to look into the channel’s hashtag, Kait!” She knows how crazy it can be sometimes because it’s pretty much one of her hobbies to lurk in that hashtag. Once, one of the very few times she’s gotten drunk, at home, all by herself while binge-watching Scandal _because you cannot see Olivia Pope drinking a nice glass of wine and not drink one as well, it’s bad manners,_ she even created a fake account just to go unnoticed while interacting with her fans.

“But it’s so much fun! I bet you didn’t know about that either, did you?”

“No.” There was no point in lying to Kaitlyn. That one could smell a lie from a hundred miles away.

“About the Scott situation, let me tell you something, my dear friend. You know what else is a virtue?”

“What?”

“Forgiveness.”

The call was over when Tessa, having no answer to what Kaitlyn just said, pretended she had problems with her internet connection, standing still and trying not to blink just to make her friend think the image was frozen and hang up. (Author's note: don't try this at home.)

\-----------xxx----------

On Tuesday, she comes across a few articles mentioning Virtuemoir. So _we’re really Virtuemoir now? At least my name comes first._

Being Tessa, she panics for a few minutes but realizes it’s just a couple of small blogs and decides they’re not worth worrying about. Of course she’ll think about them when she lays on her bed at night, but during the day she can pretend they’re nothing. _People will just forget about it soon enough._

After all, it’s not like she will ever have to talk to Scott again, right? Of course, she still had to make a couple more videos for the Maple Leafs, but he definitely isn’t the only player in the team and she could very well come up with a video that does not involve the actual team or a game. She could teach people how to make their own Maple Leafs shirts, or how to make personalized Maple Leafs decor for their rooms, how to host a game night party… Poor Tessa. The girl has no idea of what’s coming.

\-----------xxx----------

On Wednesday night, she’s lying comfortably on her sofa, lost in the pages of her very worn out copy of “All The Light We Cannot See”, when her phone rings.

“Hey sis. I’m calling just to check on you.” Tessa finds it odd, she’s always the one calling Jordan, not the other way around.

“Yeah? Why wouldn’t I be?” She knows she sounds suspicious, but she can’t hide it.

“Are you home? What are you doing?”

“Yes, I’m just reading. What’s wrong, Jo?”

“You haven’t seen your social media on the past fifteen minutes, have you?”

“No, why?” She tries to find her laptop in the middle of the mess that’s her small living room table at the moment.

“I’m gonna stay on the phone with you while you do it, alright? Actually, let me send you the link.” And then her voice lowers, as if she’s thinking out loud. “I can’t believe how fast these things get uploaded on youtube these days.”

“You’re scaring me here, Jordan.” Tessa gives up trying to find her laptop, puts Jordan on speaker and opens the messaging app.

“Listen, I think it was cute, okay? Don’t freak out, just breathe, please.” She clicks on the link and sees Scott Moir’s face on the small screen.

 

**45 minutes before - Air Canada Centre**

“Hey, Scott Moir! We’re live on CBC.How do you feel about tonight’s win?” A reporter asks Scott at the end of the mixed zone. He’s been giving the same answers to the same questions for the last two years of his life and can’t wait for this one interview to be over.

“I’m happy, but I ain’t gonna lie, it was a tough one.” He is still trying to catch his breath, his voice sounds as tired as he feels. “Especially the last period, with that unfortunate penalty and their left wing being sent off. It sucks when that happens, we like to play a balanced game.” _And now he’s going to ask me about the preparation for next week’s game,_ it’s what Scott thinks. But he is wrong.

“Everyone at the studio and I’m pretty sure that everyone back home as well wants me to ask you about a certain topic: Virtuemoir.” He doesn’t need to look at Cara, a couple of feet away from him, to know that she’s smiling hard, the kind of smile she gives when she proves a point. Scott’s been avoiding talking to her about the whole social media buzz about him and Tessa. She insisted they come up with an answer to the inevitable question previously to tonight’s game, but he shrugged it off. _No one is going to ask me about that, this isn’t Hollywood_ it’s what he told her. Scott feels Cara getting closer to him, probably about to tell the interviewer to wrap up and save her cousin’s - and most stubborn boss ever - ass once more.

“Will we see Tessa Virtue at the next game? Are you guys dating?” Scott’s cheeks turn red. In less than a second, the same thing happens to his neck and collarbone. He looks slightly panicked, scratching the back of his neck nervously. Right before Cara intervenes, he gives her a subtle look as if to say _it’s alright, I’ve got this._ Knowing him better than anyone in this world, Cara knows he’s wrong, but decides to wait and see what he’s _got_.

“I don’t think so. I wish, but she’s way out of my league, man.” After he mouths a _thank you_ to the reporter and turns to leave, he notices Cara trying to contain her laughter.

“What?” He asks her as if nothing happened.

“Scott Moir, I hope you know you’re a dead man.”

\-----------xxx---------- 

_He could send me a truck full of peonies and I would not forgive him this time._

She hadn’t felt like this, like a fucking lioness, with so much anger boiling inside her and threatening to explode at any giving moment since she was being interviewed at a live tv show alongside another youtuber, Jeremiah Brown, who makes videos teaching gym routines, and he said that his channel content was “probably the hardest one to create, _no offense_ ”. She clapped back later on the show when the hosts were talking about Jeremiah betting his Gold Play Button - the award Youtube gives to creators who reach a million subscribers. One of the hosts said she would like to hang out with him in a casino, to which Tessa replied “Can I come with my Youtube Diamond Play Button?”.

Tessa knows she shouldn’t be doing this, knows it will only increase her anger, but she can’t stop reading the messages on social media. #GiveScottAChance is trending on Twitter. People are tagging her on Instagram in several posts. All of them are the same: the damn video in which Scott says “I wish, but she’s way out of my league, man _.” I wish. Scott Moir, you don’t know what_ I _wish_ right now.

At the other side of the city, Scott watches his own interview for the fourth time. A poor remote control is being crushed by his right hand, as if the object is to blame for everything that’s wrong on planet Earth. The other hand holds a very full beer bottle. He was so focused on the screen in front of him that he’s forgotten about the drink. When the video ends and he looks at the black pug that lies comfortably in his lap, he swears he spots a judgemental look on his dog’s face. _Is he actually judging me right now?_

He’s been home for 10 minutes and ever since he got there, his phone is out of control from so many text messages. He’s sure that most of them are from Cara, who walked all the way from the press mixed zone in the arena to his car telling him he should call Tessa Virtue. _I’ve just texted you her number, call her!_ She kept repeating to him. When he left his beer on the table and grabbed the _damn thing,_ Cara’s name was the first thing he saw.

__

_She probably hasn’t even seen the video. Cara must be overreacting, as usual,_ is what he thought.

There were five missed calls on Tessa’s phone. Jordan was calling her nonstop. When the phone started ringing for the sixth time, Tessa finally answered - without checking the ID first. She almost jumped out of the couch after listening to the voice on the other end.

“I can’t believe you’re calling me.” He’s sure he’s never heard someone that furious before. Not even his coach when the team kept making the same mistakes on the ice. “I’m hanging up, Scott. I can’t talk to you right now.”

“Please, don’t.” And then he realizes he actually hadn’t thought previously of what to say to her. _Big mistake._

“Unless you’re calling me to say you know a magician who can turn back time or that you have a perfect plan to undo the mess you made, I’m not talking to you.”

“I’m not apologizing for saying the truth”. He hears her deep breath. _Damn it, wrong thing to say._

“And why are you calling me then, Scott?”

“Why are you so mad?” _Really, Scott? Is this the best thing you could think of? Why is she so mad?_

“What if I have a boyfriend? What if I have a boyfriend and he’s furious at me right now because you went on freaking _national television_ and said that?

“Do you?” _Why can’t I keep my mouth shut?_

“People are tweeting me asking to give you a chance. It just became a trending topic!”

“What is a _trending topic_?” Taking her voice tone in consideration, it can’t possibly be a good thing.

“Oh my God, you don’t even know what it means! Tell me, are you doing this to make the media talk about you? Is that it?” And now he’s the one who’s pissed. Well, as pissed off as Scott can be.

“Why the hell would you think that?” He imitates her and lets out a deep breath. It’s almost like they’re synchronized over the phone, both of them moved by anger. His voice tone gets louder. “You’re beautiful and smart and God knows you truly are too much for me.”

“I don’t know what to say.” And then the words come out of his mouth before he could properly think about them.

“Say you’ll go on a date with me.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Up next:
> 
> “Is there a chance we could do this at my house?”


	5. The Business Meeting

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's time for Tessa and Scott to finally have a da... I mean, a business meeting.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know I’m repeating myself here, but guys, I can’t thank you enough for all the love you’ve been giving this story. Thank you. Each comment you leave here (or on Twitter) means so much to me. I also have to say thank you SOOOO MUCH to one of my most talented friends, @claire_smh (the author of Coming Home and Little Darling, if you aren’t reading them already, please do) for surprising me with a drawing of youtuber!Tessa. I may or may not have cried my eyes out when I saw that. If you haven’t seen it yet, here’s the link: https://twitter.com/claire_smh/status/1021940232122519552 
> 
> I’m sorry in advance, you don’t even have to read this, but I feel like I need to say a few things. First of all, a fandom should be a place where you feel safe. Safe to share your reactions, your theories, safe to share your art. I thank you - every single one of you - who’s been reading this story. The one’s that leave me kudos, comments, react on Twitter, put this story in “favorite VM fics” lists or simply read it. THANK YOU, from the bottom of my heart for making this a safe place for me. I trust you with this story (that I don’t consider art in any way) but that is definitely a part of me. Thank you. Having said that, my wish for everyone in this fandom is to feel this safe. As the amazing Harry Styles would say, “Treat people with kindness”. Always. This is it. Now enjoy the latest chapter of The Virtuous Life.
> 
> P.s: this is a long one and I’m afraid you’ll lose interest in the middle of it but I didn’t want to split this in two, so hopefully you’ll stick with it until the end :)

“Are you listening to yourself? We’re sort of in the middle of a fight here and you want to go out with me? As in a _date_ , Scott?” _Unfortunately yes, I heard what I said. Think fast, Scott._ “Are you still with me here?”

“Yes, sorry. I mean, that’s the answer for the second question. I’m still here.” Suddenly he doesn’t know how to talk anymore, it’s like the words are fighting with him. “And the first question… It’s more like a business date.” He hears her deep breath on the other end. “No, not a date. A _meeting_. Yes. A business meeting.”

“And what exactly would we discuss in that meeting?” Scott is surprised that she hasn’t hung up on him yet.

“Work. We need to be civilised around one another. For work.” He says while he nods, trying to convince himself that it was a nice answer to her question.

“Has this ever worked before? With the others?”

“What?”

“The girlfriends. Your girlfriends.”

“What do you mean? The work thing?”

“Yes, and it’s not happening with me. So goodbye, Scott. I have to go to bed, it’s an early morning for me tomorrow.” And she did not wait for him to say goodbye or to try to understand why she was talking about his girlfriends.

It’s not like they have to shoot another video together or even talk to each other again. She could very well keep on living her life without needing to _learn_ how to be around Scott. She had a long list of video ideas related to the Maple Leafs that didn’t require any actual players. And that’s how it was going to be. No more Scott Moir.

Tessa made a promise to herself to not read any more social media comments that night. Or answer any of Jordan’s calls. She was not in a mood for that and didn’t want to take out on her sister when she definitely had nothing to do with her little sister’s anger. She's read Kaitlyn’s message reminding her they had a lunch date tomorrow but also didn’t feel like replying or Kaitlyn would start talking about the night’s events again.

Tessa knew she’d have a sleepless night if she did nothing to help her sleep, so she remembered all the times Kate Virtue prepared a cup of chamomile tea for her the night before school exams. She has never aimed to be better than anyone, but she always worked hard to be the very best version of herself, so that meant studying hard, taking as many extra classes as she could and nailing every single exam. Except Math ones. She felt like her brain hadn’t developed enough whatever was necessary to be good at Math, so it was always A- or B+ for her and that was _unacceptable._ A cup of nice, warm tea and five pages of “All The Light We Cannot See” later, she falls asleep.

When she wakes up the next morning, she realizes she hadn’t finished yesterday’s daily vlog. _I’ll have to skip yesterday,_ it’s what she decides. Tessa knows her fans will obviously notice the absence of a Wednesday vlog, but she just doesn’t have the energy to edit what she’s filmed (only until her quiet reading time, something she’d planned to transform into a calming timelapse. She’d turned the camera off a few moments before Jordan called her for the first time. Tessa also did not want to film a small bit to explain why she had to cut the vlog short, without saying good night. So skipping it is.

 _Maybe I could skip today as well?_ It’s what she thought as soon as she saw the camera on her bedside table. She would have a day off camera and hopefully would manage to have a day off social media as well, considering she didn’t have any Ad posts scheduled for that day. _As long as no one talks about me on national television again, I’ll be fine._

She goes through her morning beauty routine and then goes to her kitchen, still in a robe, to prepare her poached eggs and french toasts. Tessa already regrets having said yes to Kaitlyn’s invitation to grab some lunch: _can’t I just stay here for the rest of the day?_ Well, she could get away with a day off social media and without filming a vlog, but she could _not_ survive blowing Kaitlyn off. Her friend would just not have it.

After breakfast, she sees her laptop on the counter and realizes that there’s something else she couldn’t spend a day without: checking her e-mails. _Work is work._ If she could predict what _kind_ of messages she’d see once she logged in her account, she wouldn’t have done it. It’s right there on the screen, the very first one in a row of approximately 30 unread e-mails.

**Dear Tessa,**

**The whole marketing team is so happy with the Pillow Fight Challenge’s views. Six million! That’s impressive. We want to enjoy this amazing atmosphere you’ve created - a very creative and fun one - as we continue our partnership with you and the Maple Leafs. That’s why I’m sending you this e-mail. We had a meeting yesterday with the Leafs MKT team to brainstorm a few ideas to make the most of this amazing platonic chemistry you and Scott have. I’d like to run one of them with you two on Monday, are you available around 9 a.m? I’ve already talked to Cara Moir and she said Scott’s on board, I hope we can count on you as well.**

**Leisa Rosenthal**

**Head of Marketing**

Tessa Virtue was not a fan of curse words in any way. But damn it if she didn’t want to yell a couple of them in that moment. _AMAZING CHEMISTRY? I hope I have chemistry enough to combust whoever had this_ terrific _idea involving me and that man. Burn. Destroy. Exterminate._

“It’s not like a have a choice, do I?” She nearly screamed at the poor laptop, as if Leisa Rosenthal could hear what she said. Of course the actual e-mail would turn out to be a very polite one, saying that _yes_ , she is available on Monday morning.

She had a good few hours of sleep thinking that she was done with Scott Moir and would love to turn back time and enjoy her ignorance for a little bit more. Taking Leisa’s words in consideration, it didn’t look like they were going to “ _make the most of the amazing platonic chemistry”_ only once. _You’re a big girl, Tessa. A woman. You can do this. You can survive Scott Moir._ And when her thoughts went to how exactly would she be able to be around Scott harmoniously, she immediately knew she would have to take him up on his offer. _Be the bigger person, Tessa. Someday you’ll laugh about this. Unfortunately, not today._

She saves his number and texts him.

_Of course_ he wasn’t online. _Of course_ she couldn’t count on him to give her an answer quickly. _It’s almost 10 a.m, doesn’t he have things to do?_ Well, if he didn’t, she sure did, so she spent the next couple of hours answering her e-mails.

She’s getting ready to leave the house to meet Kaitlyn when her phone rings and lets her know she has a new message. A 43-seconds long, audio one. _Couldn’t he even bother to type his answer?_ When she hit play, it was obvious he was fighting for his breath, as if he was in the middle of an intense workout. _Or something else._ _But he wouldn’t be using his phone while doing that, would he?_ _Why the hell am I thinking about this?_

He said: “Do you mind if we do this at my house? Tomorrow? I have practice all day, but I’m free at night.” He stops for a second. “I swear I have no second intentions.” And if she could hear his thoughts, she’d know what exactly was going through his mind: _I mean, not if you don’t want to._ “It's just that it's Friday, every place in Toronto should be crowded and I don't think you'd like to draw attention to ourselves, right?”

She didn’t like his suggestion much, but had to admit he had a point. Also, it’s not like she would ever invite him over, her place being sacred and all. Tessa types a simple “ **OK, but this is work.** ” To what he answers back with another audio - which she refuses to listen to while she’s late to meet Kaitlyn and would only listen to later - telling her he would text her his address. He finishes with “So it’s a _da_ … sorry. So it’s a _business meeting_ .” And right next he sends her a written text saying “ **We’re business partners only.** ”

 

Tessa and Kaitlyn are at their favorite spot for lunch: the Biff’s Bistro. The place fits perfectly with Tessa’s love for France. They always choose to sit on the street-side terrace that looks just like the parisian patios, with cute tables and even cuter tablecloths. A few more pink drinks and Tessa could swear she was in one of the bistros around the Notre-Dame cathedral.

She knows her friend is making small talk. About Andrew’s - her male BFF turned boyfriend - new haircut and how _unfair_ it was of him to cut his hair considering how much she loved braiding it. About her new boss and being sure that Tessa would _hate her._ About her neighboor who she thinks might be having an affair with her other neighboor and what a _jerk_ he is.

Tessa thinks it’s time to take Kaitlyn out of her misery.

“OK, Kait. You can talk about Scott Moir now.” Her friend looks immediately relieved.

“Thank God. Tessa, I like him. Really. He was _so brave_ to say those things on national television. I actually thought it was really cute.” Tessa remains in silence, just looking at her. “Why aren’t you saying something? I feel like you should be saying something by now. I know you hate him but you were the one who brought him up.”

“I just wanted you to take this off your chest. I knew you were trying not to talk about it. Now we can talk about something else.” Kaitlyn looks at Tessa as if she’s thinking her friend has lost her mind, but decides to change the conversation topic anyway. “I’d love a girls’ night tomorrow. Can we do this at yours? And did I tell you I bought that red wine you told me about? I can totally bring it with me.”

“I actually can’t.” _Please don’t ask why, please don’t ask why, please don’t ask…_

 _“_ Why _?_ Please, if you say you’re going to ditch me, abandon me, leave me to dust, to stay home editing a video or reading the same book for the hundredth time, this is it for us. We’re done.”

“No, it’s not that.” Somehow her roasted heritage half chicken seems so interesting on the plate.

“Can you please stop staring at this chicken like it’s one of the seven wonders of the world and tell me what is it?”

“I swear, it’s nothing.”

“Are you hiding something, Tessa? You know you suck at keeping things from me. My surprise birthday from last year? I knew about it by just looking at your face everytime I mentioned my birthday.”

“I-have-to-see-Scott-Moir” She says as quickly as a blink of an eye.

“You what?”

“I-have-to-see-Scott-Moir.”

“You have to see Scott Moir? Where? At the arena again? I could come with you and then we could order some takeout at home, what do you think?”

“No, it’s actually at his house.” She looks at her chicken again.

“At _his house_? Is this some Maple Leafs event at his place?”

“Just us.” Tessa says in a low tone, blushing a little bit. She knows what it sounds like.

“Wait a minute. So you’re telling me that _you_ , Tessa Virtue, is having a _date_ with Scott Moir?”

“It’s not like that. It’s a business meeting.” Tessa looks at her friend again.

“A _business meeting?_ Pardon me, but what is your definition of a business meeting? Because it sure is much different than mine.”

“We can’t be seen together, Kait. I’m sure you’ve been reading all the tweets, you know that as soon as someone posts a picture of us, everyone is going to say we’re dating.”

“I know, but maybe that’s not a good thing after all? And why are you meeting him anyway?”

“We’ll have to work together for Casper again. We have to learn how to be civilised around each other.”

“This makes no sense at all to me, but please tell me you’re dressing like a sexy business woman.”

**\-------xxxx------**

“Guys, I have a meeting in a couple of hours and I won’t be able to film any of it, but I thought it would be nice to show you the process of picking my outfit. I hope you enjoy this.” Tessa says while looking at the camera in her right hand. Her viewers are familiar with her closet, the white walls with the hundreds of items of clothing that bring a bit of color to the ambient. “I wish I was one of these lucky people that enter their closets and immediately know what they want to wear. I am not. Definitely not.” She laughs a little.

“When I have time to put together a whole look, I pick a few options, take them to my bed, and try to arrange different looks with the pieces that I picked.” She puts the camera in the shelf, making sure the frame is right and it’s capturing her every move. Tessa gathers the clothes and then grabs the camera to go to her bedroom, putting the clothes on her bed and the shoes on the floor. She holds the small camera with her left hand and with her right she puts together three different looks.

“Then I look at the different options and choose what looks best for me at the moment. I say ‘at the moment’ because your mood today might make you love an outfit but as soon as your mood changes, you might hate it. I know it sounds crazy, but believe me, that happens. Of course I regret my looks sometimes, you can’t always be right, but that’s life.” She turns the camera from her to the bed so her viewers can see the three looks. The first one, a navy blue pencil skirt with a pink blouse that she would wear with nude heels. The second one, a pink sweater and black skinny jeans with baby pink heels.

“I see we’re following a pink theme here…” The third look is a blue pantsuit. “This is a casual business meeting, so I don’t think I should wear the pantsuit. What do you think?” The camera goes from the first look to the second, making her indecision clear. _I shouldn’t be giving this much thought into this outfit._ And then chooses the simplest one, the sweater with skinny jeans.

“Oh, and another tip for you: if you can, try to take a picture of you wearing the outfit. That way you can see if it really compliments you, if it fits in all the right places and if the fabric isn’t too transparent.” Tessa finishes her vlog saying that was the last clip of the day and wishing everyone a great Saturday. She tries to think that when this vlog is uploaded, she’d had already survived the meeting with Scott. That helps her breathing.

But it’s not like she was anxious for this or something. She’s there five minutes early and decides she is going to stare at her shoes for five minutes before ringing the bell of his apartment. Those were some beautiful shoes that deserved to be admired. He doesn’t need to know she’s arrived early, right? When she finally rings, she realizes she didn’t know what to expect of that night. It sure wasn’t what she saw as soon as Scott opened the door.

“WOW. You took the business aspect of this very seriously, I see.” It’s what she says when she sees he is wearing a suit and a tie, ready for some sort of serious business meeting - or a fancy red carpet. If she didn’t know him, she would even say that he’s quite… _handsome. Tessa, that’s Scott Moir. You don’t like him._

“Thank you, I guess?” He seems a bit confused, but makes a move to kiss her cheek and a second later stops as if somehow he’s thinking more clearly and gives up on kissing her. “This is a business meeting, after all.” And extends his hand for her to shake. It’s the first time he sees her wearing glasses. He doesn’t know it, but she actually designed them. Scott had no idea her eyes could look more beautiful, but apparently they could. And they did.

He makes a gesture for her to go inside.

“I’m so glad you agreed on doing this here. I know this is not Hollywood, but I can’t lie to you and say that people don’t stop me for pictures when I do simple things like buying food for Puck. I’m sure this also happens to you.” And Tessa can’t answer this right away. Her mind is elsewhere. _Who is Puck? Does he have a kid? Oh my God, what kind of person names their kid Puck? And being a_ hockey _player?_

“I didn’t realize you had a kid. Guess my google research on you the other day wasn’t that good?” She sounds as surprised as she feels.

“ _Kid_ ?” He laughs a little. “No, it’s just my dog, even though sometimes he acts like a jealous human being. I swear to God, that dog must have sensed that I had a prettier companion this evening and decided to leave little stinky gifts around the house for me, so I apologize if I missed any of them and you happen to find one.” He doesn’t seem to notice that the word _pretty_ has actually slipped out. She does.

“It’s okay.” She says, pauses for a bit and then continues. “I feel a little underdressed, though.”

“Don’t worry, please. It’s just that I take all my business meetings very seriously.” He jokes. She wants to laugh, but is able to contain it. _He doesn’t need to know he’s a little bit funny. Just a little. He’s already cocky enough._

“Would you like something to drink? Water, coffee?” _OK, so this really is a business meeting._

“No, thanks.”

“Please, sit.” He points to the couch. “Can I start the presentation?”

“Presentation?” She is confused. _What is this?_ It’s what she thinks when she sees him turning the TV on. She can see there are a few words on the screen, but his body is covering them. He clears his throat as if he’s getting ready to start a big speech. Maybe he is. And then he grabs the remote control and allows her to see what’s on the screen.

“Reasons why _Tessa Virtue_ ” He reads, then pauses “that’s you. Should forgive Scott Moir.” He points at himself. “That’s me.” Add this to the tweet-card he’s sent her and Tessa really has to give it to him, the guy _is_ creative.

It would take some time for her to know every detail of this, but Scott’s put a lot of thought - and work - into this. The only business meeting he’s ever been to was the one where he signed his contract to play for the Leafs. Cara was the one who handled his sponsorship deals, so she was the one who always went to business meetings. That’s why he needed to _study._ He wanted to nail this. He’s read a couple of articles that promised to tell “How To Give a Killer Presentation” or “8 Tips On Giving a Presentation Like a Pro”. He even downloaded a free, ten-page e-book with presentation examples. _Do people give free stuff on the Internet?_ He thought constantly.

Most of the articles focused on the importance of looking at the presentation as a journey, deciding exactly where it would start and finish. _A journey, I see._ Then they said you have to think of what the audience already knows about the presentation subject: _she’s made a nice research for the pillow fight challenge_ , and how much they care about it: _Not much, I’m afraid._

Would he need to memorize what to say? Would he read from cue cards? All of the articles said it wasn’t nice to read the whole thing from a paper or memorize and end up sounding like a robot. He also needed _visuals_ to catch the audience’s attention and give him cues. That’s why he chose to create a slideshow, to help him along.

He was trying to keep in mind everything he’s learned. _Step 1: Introduce the topic, explain why you care so deeply about it._

“I truly think it’s important that you forgive me. We have to work together and I don’t usually enjoy work off-ice, it would be even worse to be around someone who doesn’t like me. I mean, it’s not that you’re obligated to like me or anything, but it would be nice if you didn’t actually hate me?” She can tell he’s thought about this before. _Did he rehearse this?_ She nods at him, trying to tell him _okay, you can continue._ He nods back and presses a button on the remote control. Another image fills the screen. _Step 2: You need examples to expand your ideas. Bring it to life with examples._

__

“You’re not that special, you know?” He jokes. “Before sharing the spotlight with you, I’ve made a fool of _myself_ on TV. Not one of my proudest moments, I must admit. At the time, Cara told me people even made those images with letters using my face.”

“You mean they made _memes_ , right? Oh, I remember those. And thanks. What a way to compliment a girl, Moir.” He could tell she wasn’t being serious. _How  can I hate a guy who knows how to laugh at himself?_

He could spend some time giving the details of why he was shouting when they filmed him, but he remembered step number three. _Don’t overexplain. Remember the people of the audience are intelligent._ His immediate thought is _It’s not like I have to remind myself of this. She’s super smart._

He presses the button again and another shows up on the screen.

“See? Now I know what a trending topic means.” He winks. “When I asked Cara about it, she said people made me a national trending topic _thirty_ times since I had my debut on the NHL. It’s a good thing, I guess.” She doesn’t see why him being a trending topic might help his case, but makes a gesture for him to keep on going, but instead he just stares at her for a second.

 _The most important physical act on stage is eye-contact._ He should be careful not to look so creepy.

“Why are you looking at me like this?”

“I’m a little bit nervous. I don’t know if you’re aware of this, but my _presentations_ usually only involve pucks and sticks.” And he laughs. He sees a small smile on her face. “Ok, let’s go to the next one.”

“Of course this isn’t me in the drawing, but I saw this on Google Images and thought it actually looked a lot like me, so I saved it. And yes. I can definitely cook. You already know I’ve seen what happened between you and that poor rice. I could save you from another cooking incident.”

“Are you sure you’re trying to ask for my forgiveness? By mentioning the rice thing? Not a smart choice, Moir.” She tries to sound and look serious. He can’t tell if she’s kidding or not, but chooses to continue.

He might be hallucinating, but he could swear he’s heard a very quick laugh.

“I’m serious. Sometimes they love _too much_ , but that means I can bring the attention of an older audience to your channel.”

“Interesting. Wait, should I be making notes?”

“Do you have paper?”

“Unfortunately not.”

“Haven’t people told you that you should always bring paper and a pen to business meetings?” He nods disapprovingly. “We’re getting close to the end of the presentation, unfortunately.” He pretends - very badly - to be sad.  

_There’s an aha moment._

__

“This means I get free chocolate all the time. Too much chocolate, I’d say. And since I have to follow a _very_ strict diet, do you know what I do with all those bars? I give them to my _friends._ ” He lifts his brow as if to say _See? You could get free chocolate for the rest of your life._

“This one is a low blow, Moir. Low blow.”

_And then you present the solution to the problem._

“Let’s recapitulate what we’ve learned here today, shall we? First of all, we’ve seen that he, a thirty-time trending topic, has made a fool of himself on national television before. Then we learned that if you could just forgive Scott Moir, he could help you cook,” _or cook for you_ “help you reach a new audience and lastly, but not least, give you free chocolates.” Tessa nods. “I know he can be a pain in the ass sometimes, _OK_ , most of the times, but really, I’ve been dealing with the guy for thirty years now. It’s possible to survive.” The small smile appears on her face again.

“It’s time to deliberate. What do you think? Does he deserve your forgiveness?”

“Maybe? But now’s time.”

“Time for what?”

“To tell me the truth. You can’t be that _perfect_.” Her voice is full of irony.

“Can we talk about the bad stuff over dinner? Hopefully the food will be so good you won’t pay attention to what I’m saying.”

“Dinner?”

“I’ve heard business partners like to have dinner when their meetings end late at night.”

“Do they?”

“Yes. It’s a thing they do.”

He tells her to follow him to the kitchen and she stops in the hall for a bit to look at the pictures on the wall. She knows you can learn so much from someone by just looking at the pictures around their house. And she sees a beautiful photo of Scott with kids she presumes are his nieces and nephews, one of a beautiful black pug in a Maple Leafs small shirt, and one of him with a couple and two guys, his brothers. She notices how much Scott and the guys look like their mom. There’s no way that’s not their mom.

When she finally follows him and enters the kitchen, She sees him in front of the stove, doing something with a couple of pans, while trying to dry his forehead with a towel. _Of course he is sweating, I’ll put him out of his misery._

_I hope she thinks I’m sweating because I’m wearing too many clothes for this room’s mild temperature and that her brilliant mind stays very far from the truth: my nerves hate me._

“Scott.” Her voice startles him.

“Yes?” He turns to face her. He tries to contain the smile that’s threatening to form by just looking at her, so calm _calm, she’s calm!_ in his kitchen.

“You can take these off.” She gestures to his clothes. Tessa clearly hadn’t thought carefully about her choice of words, something she realizes once his smirk makes an _appearance_. “That’s not what I mean.” Tessa points to his mouth.

“What? My face? You don’t mean my face?” He laughs, deciding to push his luck a little bit more.

“This _thing_ you do with your mouth. It looks inappropriate.” She’s serious, but he can’t help but laugh again.

“You mean my lips? My smile? You gotta make yourself clear here, Tessa.” He bites his lower lip in an attempt to prevent his third loud laugh in a row.

“No, you move your mouth like this…” and she tries to imitate him, focused in showing him what she meant. When she sees the look on his face, she shakes her head irritatedly. “Never mind, you’re trying to make a fool of me.” When she makes a move to pretend she’s leaving the kitchen, he grabs her left arm softly, trying to stop her.

“I’m sorry. I swear.” Scott manages to look pretty serious. He shows her his right hand’s pinky finger, as if he’s waiting for hers so they can pinky promise, and she gives him a shy smile. “And you’ve never _seen_ a guy that likes to spend his spare time at home wearing a suit? I thought that was normal behavior, can’t believe my mom fooled me!” Her small smile turns into a grin.

 _I hope he doesn’t think we’re seeing_ each other _._ His hand leaves her arm and he goes back to the stove, stopping for a little moment just to take his jacket and deposit it in one of the benches near his kitchen counter. _Even though I can_ definitely _see him right now,_ it’s what she thinks when she sees that the white shirt hugs him in all the right places, accentuating his muscled figure. _Focus, Tessa. Focus._

“But you never know when someone might call you and ask you to come to an emergency business meeting, right? You have to be prepared at all times.” He plays with his tie a little and finally manages to go back to the stove to finish preparing the food. She leans slightly against the wall, trying to think of what he actually meant by that. He has the decency to hide his second smirk in just five minutes. She enjoys the following silence to take in his kitchen. It certainly looks a lot more _alive_ than hers. Like he actually spends time here making actual food. She’s surprised to find simple appliances, no smart fridges or induction cooktops in sight, nothing high tech as the rest of the house suggests.

Tessa notices the little black pug’s face on the kitchen door. It’s like he is trying to see who is making his owner company. When he realizes that she is looking at him, he runs away.

“That was Puck. I told you, he is a little bit jealous tonight.”

“He’s cute.”

A little bit later, she asks where is his dining table. He blushes. He doesn’t have one. “And here was I thinking that NHL players were paid well.” He almost spits out his water, looking shocked. “What? You think you’re the only one who’s got jokes, Moir?”

And then they forget about discussing his “bad stuff” during dinner. They don’t talk much while they’re eating, but besides sharing the food, they also share smiles. If they thought they had nothing in common, in that moment, they did. For the first time, their smiles matched.

When they say their goodbyes an hour later and he closes his door, she doesn’t see the little happy dance he does.

On Monday morning, when they arrive at the meeting with the Casper’s team, Leisa Rosenthal says “Let’s get this presentation started…” and they both burst out laughing.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Up next:  
> “So you want us to act like a couple… without actually being one?”
> 
> p.s: I had SO MUCH FUN writing this one. I really hope you like it.


	6. The Dancing Challenge

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tessa and Scott have no idea of what they're signing up for.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey, everyone! Thank you so much for your patience. I had a busy - and stressful- couple of weeks and didn’t have the time to sit down and write this new chapter. But I finally finished this huge report for my masters yesterday and found myself free again. Thank you for the encouraging words on Twitter regarding my job interview (fingers crossed!) and the report as well. I’m going through a bit of a rough time in my life and those tweets sure brought smiles to my face. By saying that, I’m also apologizing for this chapter here. I don’t feel like it is everything it had the potential to be, but wanted to post it as a thank you to all of you. I’m sorry if this is not what you were expecting - maybe I’ll just rewrite it sometime this week (?). Let’s see what you think. Please let me know :)

“We asked you to come here today so we can talk about some ideas to enjoy this momentum, this great scenario you’ve built around yourselves.” Leisa Rosenthal says as soon as they stop laughing. She was confused for a moment, but chose not to ask them what was the reason behind those laughs. _They have inside jokes already. This is awesome._

This was a much different room than the one they had their business meeting days before. Tessa, sitting on the opposite side of Scott, with the huge mahogany table between them, noticed how the word _built_ made him uncomfortable. She had to say something to tell him she had forgave him and did not think that he did anything on purpose anymore. She remembers his hurt tone when she asked him if he talked about her on TV to grab the media’s attention.

 “I’m sorry, but I have to say we did not _build_ anything. It wasn’t our intention to make people think… well, whatever they’re thinking right now.” Tessa can see he’s surprised to hear that. He raises his eyebrow and gives her a small nod as if to say _thank you._

“It might not have been your intention, but once _you_ ” Leisa looks at Scott, a hint of a smile on her face “go on national television to say that someone is out of his league it sure makes people talk. That was better than anything we could ever think of.”

“That was not my…” Scott tries to speak, but is interrupted by Leisa.

“We know, my dear. But it happened. And we think we can enjoy this buzz for a little bit longer.”

Tessa and Scott exchange a look that tells one another they don’t like where this is going.

“People are talking. Your pillow fight challenge has more than _10_ million views. They are watching it to witness the great chemistry you have going on between you two, of course, but at the same time they’re immediately associating you to our brand. That’s a nice opportunity for us.” Leisa looks at them to make sure she has their attention before going any further. “I’m talking about attending events together, shooting another challenge… give them something to talk about. Of course the events will be related to Casper’s or the Leafs, to make sure people think of our brands, sometimes even unconsciously, when they think of you.”

It’s Scott who breaks the silence that followed her words.

“So you want us to act like a couple… without actually _being_ one?”

“We can’t ask you that. Not exactly. What we want here is to make sure you’re seen together. And, of course, to keep associating our brands with you.”

“You said that we would have to attend events together. What if the media asks us if we’re dating?”

“The media doesn’t need much to speculate whether or not two people are banging.” Scott chokes up. Tessa is as red as Satine’s infamous Moulin Rouge dress. “Sorry. _Together_. If two people are _together_. But I have to say, though. Most of the time, the couples they’re making a fuss about are boring, but once in a while they talk about people that… well, that if are not together yet, they totally should. Maybe not date, _date_ , but at least...” And she makes an awkward gesture that seems very inappropriate to a business meeting “ _you know._ ”

Tessa saves them from the very awkward direction the conversation was heading to.

“And what should we do at those events? And what kind of events are we talking here?” She hated big crowds, they always made her too nervous. She had to turn down a few job opportunities because of that before. Her mental health had to come first. Tessa looks at Scott, who still seems surprised. And he is. _She’s really considering saying yes to this._

“Small events. I know it’s an incredibly short notice, but we actually have one in mind that’s happening tomorrow.”

“ _Tomorrow_?” Scott thinks out loud. “Sorry. Tomorrow?” He repeats his question in a calmer tone.

“Yes. It’s just the opening of Caleb Jenkins’ new photo exhibition. Casper is one of the sponsors and it would be a nice place to start this.”

Tessa knows she’s obligated – by her contract – to attend events related to Casper if they ask her to, but wonders if Scott has to do that as well. She’s about to ask him that when Leisa speaks again.

“There’s going to be a small red carpet, so you would arrive together and pose for a few pictures before entering the gallery.” Scott takes another sip of his water. Media appearances are not his thing, but if it means he can spend more time with Tessa Virtue, he’s willing to do it.

“We also want your help to put together a charity event to raise awareness to a cause. You both have a say on what cause that would be.” That caught Tessa’s attention. They would be able to actually help people, so this wouldn’t be something orchestrated just to sell mattresses. She notices Scott is happy to hear that. Well, it wouldn’t hurt to spend more time with him and, at the same time, raise money to a good cause. _We could be friends. We’d have to be friends in order to do this not-fake-dating thing, right?_

“So… are you on board with this?” Leisa asks them.

“Are you?” Scott and Tessa say at the same time. Leisa laughs.

“I love the fact that we could help a cause, use this whole situation to actually do some good.” Scott says.

“Me too.”

“I’m so glad to hear that. We’re gonna make great things together, guys. Trust me.”

“And the challenge? Do you have something in mind?”  Tessa asks her.

“What’s something people haven’t seen you doing on YouTube yet?”

“People haven’t seen me dancing. But I’m not sure that’s something Scott is willing to do.”

“Is this a challenge?” He says, raising his eyebrow again. Tessa realizes how expressive his eyebrow is, making a mental note to pay more attention to that in the future.

“It depends, do you want it to be?” She quotes his tweet. He laughs.

“So you’ll come up with a number and dance together?” Leisa interrupts their friendly rant.

“No, I was thinking more of a dance battle. Can you dance, Moir?” And she’s the one raising an eyebrow now.  

“You’ll have to see for yourself. Can you, Virtch?” He replies in a teasing tone.

“Same. You’ll have to wait and see.”

“That’s what I’m talking about.” She points to Scott and Tessa. “ _Sparks_. I can _see_ it, I can nearly touch it right now.” Leisa says and Tessa blushes. Scott just smirks. “We can rent a studio for a couple of hours.”

“Actually, I have a small studio at home. We should be fine, but I’m afraid we won’t have much space for a crew, just the two of us and the camerawoman.”

“That’s fine by me. I trust you.”

“Less people to witness my greatness? Not sure if I like that.” Scott jokes.

“The world will be able to see your moves on Youtube, Moir. Don’t worry. But I should say that the Internet’s forever. Once it’s there, it’s always there.”

“Oh, I’m not afraid of it.”

They have no idea of what they just signed up for.

**\-------xxxx------**

Tessa checks herself in the mirror for the third time in less than 5 minutes. She’s tried to get her mind off of this situation since she’s left the meeting the day before, but Kaitlyn and Jordan’s attempts to find out what happened at Scott’s house didn’t allow her to free her mind of him. There was nothing to say to them. Nothing was going on between her and Scott, so there was no, as Kaitlyn would say, _tea_ to spill. Well, nothing was going on but she was about to hop in a car with Scott to walk a red carpet alongside him and hopefully survive a night of socializing with people she’s never heard of. Yeah. There’s nothing going on.

Leisa had sent them the details for the night. A driver would pick up Scott, then her, so they would arrive together at the event. They would walk the red carpet, meet some people, take a few more pictures and it would be over. _Red carpet. Pictures. Talk._ She kept thinking repeatedly, trying to calm her nerves. She hears a horn honking and knows he’s arrived. _It’s time._ She grabs her purse in the small table near her door, checks her make-up again, and leaves her house.

Scott, seeing her through the car window, immediately thinks _it’s the one I voted for._ The driver opens the door for her, she mouths a _thank you_ to him and enters the car.

“Hi”. She says as soon as she sees him.

“Hey. You look beautiful.” He answers without thinking.

“You too”, she whispers. _Did she actually say that?_ He had to be sure.

“I’m sorry, _what_?”

“You don’t look so bad yourself.” She’s blushing. _That’s a win._

He doesn’t know what to say next, so he tries to think of the safest topic to talk about.

“Do you think we’re going to stay there until late?”

“Oh, do you have somewhere else to be?” He notices she sounds, somehow, disappointed. _This is just your imagination, Scott._

“I don’t like leaving Puck alone for more than three hours.”

“Your kid was not a fan of me, I could say.” She gives him a quick laugh.

“He was just being jealous. He’ll come around next time you stop by the house.” He replies as if he’s sure she’s going to be around again.

“ _Next time_?” Tessa teases him.

“I’m sorry, it’s not like you ha…”

“It’s okay. I’d like to.” He can’t do nothing but smile after hearing that.

 

They were a couple of blocks away from the gallery when Tessa noticed he was trying to hide his phone screen from her so she wouldn’t see whatever he was reading. He was focused, almost like a student trying to solve an equation. She was curious.

“What are you doing over there?”

“Nothing.” He makes a move to put the phone in his pocket, but stops when he realizes that would be worse. Tessa catches a glimpse of the screen. She now knows it’s a video and there’s something red on it.

“Scott.” She pushes him.

“OK, it’s just that I’m not used to those things and you…” The car stops abruptly because of a red traffic light. The movement makes his phone fall on the floor, right next to her feet. She bends over to grab it and finds out what is the red thing. A red carpet.

“Are you watching a red carpet video to learn how to walk in one?” She tries to contain her laugh.

“Would it help my case if I told you I’ve never been to one of those things before?” He’s the one blushing now.

“You don’t have to worry.” She puts her left hand on his thigh to assure him, but once she realizes what she’s doing she takes it back like it has burned her somehow. “I’m pretty sure this is going to be way smaller than the Oscars, so you’ll do just fine. And I’ll be there. I’m the clumsiest person ever and I bet I’ll probably fall in front of the photographers. They’ll capture my Jennifer Lawrence moment and you’ll be able to survive the whole experience.”

“Is that a plan? I like it.” And they both laugh.

When the car stops in front of the gallery, they see the small red carpet and a few people posing for the cameras. _OK, so what do we do now?_ Tessa thinks. Scott takes a deep breath and leaves the car. She knows the driver is going to open her door, so she just waits for him. When she steps out, she notices Scott is even more nervous. She makes a small movement to touch him, but stops in the middle of the way. _Should I hold his hand? Can I do that?_ She gets rid of the thought and leads him to the red carpet.

“Breathe.” She whispers. “This is going to be really quick.”

“Thank you.” He gives her a small smile.

 

Whoever was on the red carpet immediately lost the photographers’ attention as soon as the first one saw Scott and Tessa and shouted their names.

“Over here!”

“Tessa, Scott!”

“Scott, Tessa! A quick word for ET, please!” The reporter shouted.

“We have to get in, we’re already late, I’m sorry.” Tessa answers her. Scott is just thankful she’s right by his side at that moment. They stood close together, but not touching, in front of the photographers. She feels Scott hand touching her back for a fraction of a second before letting go, not sure if he’s supposed to be doing that or not.

“It’s okay.” She tells him between her teeth so everyone else wouldn’t know what she’s saying. He puts his hand back. “You can breathe, Scott.” She smiles and he mirrors her. _This is not so bad_ , he thinks.

Once they get in the gallery, Leisa introduces them to the photographer, who tells them what inspired him to make those pictures. He went around the world to take pictures of different people laying in beds. The first one they saw was of a man laying down on a bed in the middle of a desert.

“I just wanted to really capture the feeling of being able to travel to all those beautiful places without actually leaving your bed, you know?” He kept telling them while he showed the other pictures. Tessa and Scott only nodded, making small comments here and there.

 

Half an hour later, Leisa had already left after apologizing to them saying she had to leave earlier to pick her kids from their swimming class. Tessa was stuck in a conversation about plastic surgery that she had close to zero interest for when she saw that Scott was finally alone – after talking to pretty much everyone in that room, she’s sure – in front of a picture. She excuses herself and walks toward him.

She approaches him, clearing her throat to announce her presence. He looks absorbed by the picture in front of him.

“Are you enjoying the view?” He nods. _It’s a lot better now._

“It’s very, uh… interesting.” Scott notices she’s waiting for him to continue, so he tries to think quickly of a smart answer to give her. “I like the angle he went for here. The colors… the way the blue of the sky somehow morphs into the green of the trees… It gives a sense of peace and…” Tessa can see he’s struggling, but makes a gesture for him to go on. _He’s so cute right now. Was he always like this or am I only now realizing that? Stop, Virtue!_

“The bed. It’s ruffled and the girl on it, her posture, is…” And then she decides to put him out of his misery. His attempt at seeming interested in the piece not going unnoticed.

“Scott.” She says and then gets a little bit closer to him, as if she’s about to tell him a huge secret. He’s immediately curious. “It’s literally just a girl sitting on a bed in the middle of nowhere.” Both of them can hear his loud sigh of relief.

“Oh, thank God.” He says out loud and she lets out a quiet _shhh._ “Everyone seems so interested in it all and I just couldn’t for the life of me figure out how.” He whispers.

“The one of that guy eating on a bed in a supermarket aisle? What does _that_ mean?” She says and they both start laughing. That makes a guy in a suit give them a look like he’s their teacher and is about to send them both for detention. They look at each other and silently agree it’s about time to find somewhere else to be.

They follow the sound and enter a second room, only to find a DJ playing on a small stage and people moving their bodies at the dance floor.

“Let’s dance.” Is what Scott tells her once they take in the room.

“But there’s so many people here, Scott.” She stops walking, only a couple of steps separating her from the door.

“Come on, the media already left.” He can see very clearly in her face that her mind is going wild with thoughts. “Plus, it’s dark and it’s not like these serious people that were enjoying the… _art_ care about a hockey player and an youtuber dancing together. I don’t think ET Canada is their favorite TV show.” She laughs and quickly bites her lip trying to contain it.   _OK, he has a point._

“I’ll dance with you.” He gives her a smile that makes her question why the hell was she ever able to hate this guy. If someone asked her to describe that smile, she knew there was only one way to do it: by saying he looks like a kid who just found out Christmas came early.

“But _only_ because I love this song.” She would never admit to him that she’d agreed to dance because he had really nice arguments. Also because he looked very handsome that night. Well, scratch that. She would take some time to admit that last part to _herself_.

“Is it bad that I can’t remember ever listening to it?” He says as they walk towards the dance floor. There’s a lot of people there, so Scott leads Tessa to the back of the room. They would have quite a nice space to dance and it would be harder to recognize them over there.

“This is a Calvin Harris song. You know, the producer? The one who dated Taylor Swift? That’s actually her voice in the background, doing these _ooooh ooooh ooooh ooooh._ ”

She sings and when Scott gives her a teasing smile, she realizes she’d actually just sang in front of Scott Moir. That’s not something she does in front of people. Actually, in front of no one. _Hopefully the music was so loud he couldn’t actually listen to me singing._

“You see? That’s why I hate karaoke. People think it’s because it makes me uncomfortable, but that’s not the truth. I can’t sing to save my life.” She tries to talk louder for him to be able to listen to her over the music.

“I thought it was kind of cute.” And of course he said that as the song finished and the room was dead silent. Even in the dark, Scott can see that Tessa is blushing. _Why can’t you keep your mouth shut, Scott Moir?_

And then the first notes of the next song came on. Tessa immediately knew they were from James Bay’s version of “If I Ain’t Got You”. Scott has never heard if before, just knew it was a very, very slow song. And it got awkward really quickly, as they saw everyone else pairing up, getting ready to slow dance. _Think of something to say to her. Fast._

“I swear I did not bribe the DJ.” He tells her as they stand in front of each other, not knowing what to do. She looks serious. _I bet she’s leaving. Way to go, Moir._

“How much was it?” Tessa says as she gives him a small smile.

“Maybe, just maybe, I found out he’s a Leafs fan and promised him a signed jersey? You know, because I’m very popular and stuff.” He jokes. _At least she didn’t run away. She’s still here._

“Well, I thought we were here to dance?”

“We might as well practice it, right? God knows I need that.” He extends his right hand at her. She takes it, and they both take a step towards one another. Close, but not that close.

“May I have this dance?” She nods. His other hand goes to her waist as she puts hers in his shoulder.

They were just slowly swaying back and forth, trying to match the song, but Tessa could not stop thinking of how crazy that all was. One day, she couldn’t stand the guy. The other, she’s dancing with him and, most of all, quite enjoying it.

“Why are you laughing? I know I’m not the best dancer around, but…”

“It’s nothing, really.” She knows she can’t raise her head at that moment or her eyes would immediately focus on his like they have a life of their own and cannot be controlled by her. That’s why she decides to try focusing on the moving of their feet instead. “You’re good at this.”

“Me? No, I’m not a…” Tessa lets out a quiet _ouch_ as soon as he steps lightly on her foot. “I’m sorry, I’m sorry.” His hand leaves her waist as he bends down on the floor to take a look at her feet. He could swear he did not step that hard on it. “Does it hurt?”

“Get up, Scott, it’s fine. Really.” He stands again, looking at her with worried eyes. “Maybe we should call it a night?” _Does she look sad? It’s probably just the lighting of this place._

They were both silent during the drive to her house.  She wasn’t mad at him, not exactly, but he could feel something was wrong. It’s just that it’s not easy for Tessa to let loose. When he convinced her to dance, it was like an imaginary wall built around her was destroyed. Like, somehow, she was free for a few minutes. Until he stepped on her foot. _Why did I have to do that? Wrong move, Moir, wrong move._ He’s so lost in thought that he’s surprised by how fast they got to her place.

“This was nice.” Tessa says. She makes a move to get closer to him – he doesn’t know if it was to hug or kiss him on the cheek and that doubt will haunt him when he lays in his bed that night – but suddenly stops, moving towards the car door and giving him only a small wave goodbye. “See you on Friday. And please, don’t be late.” She says in a teasing tone.

“I’ll try my best. Good night, Tessa.”

  **\-------xxxx------**

And he’s late. Again.

“I told him not to be late and guess what, Daisy. He is.” Tessa says as she walks around her kitchen table for the fifth time in the last thirty seconds.

“Stop doing that. You’re making me dizzy.” Daisy answers as she puts the battery inside her camera. “And he’s only five minutes late, T. Drink some water. Why are you so nervous?”

“Me? Nervous? I’m not nervous. I just… I don’t like when people leave me waiting, that’s it.”

“Sure.” The camerawoman says, being ironic.

“Why are you all saying that I’m nervous? Kaitlyn couldn’t stop saying that this morning.” Well, that and _do you realize it’s the second Friday in a row that you guys spend some time together? You’re ditching me for Scott Moir. But I get it. If I had those abs, I would ditch myself as well._ Tessa rolls her eyes when she remembers her friend’s words. Then her doorbell rings.

“That’s him.” It’s all she says.

“Yes, and why aren’t you moving?” Daisy asks her.

“He’s _here_.”

“Yes, T, he’s here. Let me open the door for you.” Daisy laughs. She knows Tessa feels like her home is some sort of sacred space, so inviting over someone new is a big deal for her.

Tessa can hear them getting close to the kitchen, so she gets up to greet Scott.

“I’m sorry I’m late.” Is the first thing he says.

“Are you really?” She notices Daisy had left them alone, probably to set everything up in the studio.

“Would you kill me If I told you I spent five minutes outside wondering how you would react if I arrived late again?”

“I can’t kill you anymore. We’re business partners, Moir. Are you ready to dance?”

“Ouch.” He holds his chest as if his heart is aching. “And here was I thinking that this _look_ ” He points at himself “screamed ready-to-dance.” He was wearing sweatpants and a Leafs hoodie. “I’m sorry. How insensitive of me. Come on. Let’s get this started.” She leads him to the spare bedroom-turned-studio.

“Everything’s set. I just have to put a mic on Scott.” Daisy tells them. There’s a camera in a tripod at the back of the room and, as usual, Daisy has another one in her hands.

“There’s a water bottle for you next to the stereo. In case you know, you get tired.” Tessa teases him while Daisy attaches a small mic in his hoodie.

“I’ll be fine, Virtue. _Let’s get this started._ ” They stand in the middle of the room, in front of the mirror that covered the whole wall in front of them. When Tessa said it was a small studio, Scott didn’t think it would look like this, just like a professional studio would look like.

“The Dance Challenge. Take 1.” Daisy says. “Let’s start with only you in the frame and then we zoom out so you can introduce Scott in the video.”

“Awesome.” She takes a deep breath, getting in the mood of the video. She stares confidently at the camera on the tripod and starts speaking. “Hey, guys! As you can see by the title of the video, this is another challenge. What you don’t know by the title and thumbnail is that this is a rematch. Right next to me is the guy who lost the pillow fight challenge, Mr. Scott Moir.”

“Hello, everyone. Yes, I lost the first challenge but I’m so ready for this one.”

“This is a dance challenge. I asked Daisy to select six songs of different rhythms. I have to dance to three of them, and Scott needs to dance to the other three. Whoever dances better is the winner.”

“And who’s going to be the judge?” Scott asks her.

“We’ll let people decide who’s the winner of this challenge. As soon as the video goes live, there will be a poll on Twitter.”

“Power to the people! But wait, what’s the prize?”

“I actually haven’t thought of that.”                      

“If you win, I’ll vlog for a day. If you lose, you have to… let me see…”

“If I lose, I’ll wear your jersey to the next game.” He seems surprised. “I like that.” Tessa is the one who breaks the silence that followed that.

“And what if it’s a _virtue_ -al tie?”

“I’m sorry, what?” He laughs, teasing her.

“A virtue-al tie. You heard that.” She hits him lightly in the arm.

“Then we ask for a professional opinion.”

“It’s a deal. Speaking of deals, I hope you deal well with losing, Moir. It’s actually a virtue, you know? Being able to _lose_ gracefully.”

“ _Haha_.Yes, it is. But please don’t make any more puns involving your name.” And he looks at the camera to mouth a “right?” as if he’s talking to her viewers.

“So Daisy will be in charge of the stereo and the second camera. Say hi to her, guys.” Daisy points the camera in her hands towards her own face and waves at it.

“Hello! Are you ready, guys?” Scott is stretching, as if he was about to dance for an hour straight.

“I am!” He answers.

“Me too. Bring it on.”

“Scott, you’re up first. This is disco.” Daisy presses play on the remote control in her other hand. A song Scott knows is from Grease blasts through the stereo.

“OK, this is harder than I thought, but here we go.” He counts to three, channels his inner John Travolta and delivers the moves. Once the chorus ends, Tessa looks at him in an accusatory way.

“Wait a minute. There’s no way you haven’t practiced this before. _You_ _dance_.” She says like it is the worst crime ever committed. “You said during the pillow fight challenge that you did a couple of ballet classes, made it seem like you didn’t even remember how to dance. You clearly _do_ know how to dance _.”_ Daisy stops the track.

“Guilty as charged. Dancing was, somehow, always a part of my life. When I was little, maybe 6 or 7, which was like, _yesterday_ , I did some ice dancing back at the Ilderton Rink, as I told you before. Everyone said it would help my hockey skills, so I did it, but I never competed or anything like that, my partners always ended up outgrowing me. In height and in talent.”

“When did you quit ice dancing?”

“When I was around 10, maybe?”

“And you still dance _like this?”_ She feels deceived.

“Would you be surprised if I told you that sometimes, even now, in the NHL, we have to take a few dancing lessons?”

“And where was this dancer last night? When you stepped on my foot?” He grins boyishly, like he was just caught red handed. “That wasn’t on _purpose_ , was it?” And he turned purple, red and every color in between.

“I’m sorry, I…”

“Scott Moir, you stepped on my foot so I wouldn’t suspect you’re a hell of a dancer? So I wouldn’t step up my game today?”

“I might have…”

“So maybe it’s time for me to tell you that when I mentioned during the challenge that ballet was a part of my life, I left out the fact that I was a dancer at the _National Ballet_ for five years?” She’s not much of a bragger, but feels like he deserves it. And she wouldn’t lie to herself, she loves this banter between the two of them.

“Let’s see what you’ve got, Virtch.” _Virtch? Are we giving each other nicknames now?_

“Yes, Scotty _._ Let’s do it.” She can tell by the look on his face that he does not appreciate the nickname, so she makes a mental note to keep calling him that.

“T, this is dance.” Daisy says as she presses play again. Gonna Make You Sweat (Everybody Dance Now) starts playing. Tessa takes a few steps away from Scott and show her best ballerina moves, mixing it up a bit with some other moves that she wanted to look sloppy, to play a little bit with the music beat, but actually looked good. If you asked Scott, he would say he’s never seen something (or someone) more beautiful than that.

“OK, OK. You’re really a ballet dancer.” He tells her after the second chorus, when she stops dancing and goes back to his side.

“Told you, Moir.”

“I have to step up my game here. Daisy, what’s next?”

“It’s hip hop for you, Scott.” And he hears the intro of Gangsta’s Paradise.

“That’s my go-to karaoke song. Thank you, Daisy.” He steps away from Tessa, walking confidently, and starts the classic popping and locking of hip hop dancing. He manages to do the running man move, and Tessa starts clapping when he finishes the dance with a move that mimicked a mic drop.

“It’s getting hot in here, don’t you think?” He asks Tessa as he takes his hoodie off. Until that point, Tessa was completely fine, but suddenly had to get herself a water bottle. When she gets back to his side, Daisy presses play again.

“This is country, T.”

“Oh my God. I hate country. What do I do?” 

“Don’t say that in front of me or Puck, Virtch. In our house we only play country music.” He tells her as she thinks of a country move to do. “In fact, I’ll send you a picture of Puck to insert on this video. I’m sure it’s going to make people vote for me. You know, people love dogs and stuff.” He says while looking at the camera.

"I just can't dance to this. There's no way."

"Come here, let's do this together."

Scott gently grabs both of her hands. He puts one on his right bicep and holds the other. He places his now free hand on her left shoulder. “This is the two step. We always go forward.” She looks at his feet and imitates his move. They dance together for a while until she decides to get some revenge. She steps lightly on his right foot. He pretends to feel a deep pain and she bites her lip to contain her laugh.

“Next song, Daisy.”

Daisy doesn’t need to tell Scott what rhythm that is. He knows the song. It’s Ai Se Eu te Pego by Michel Teló.

“Thank God for Javier Hernandez. He taught me how to dance to this in one of our bus trips to an away game.” He does the choreography as he remembers and bursts out laughing along with Tessa as he finishes it.

“There’s no way I’ll be able to top that.”

“Yeah, I don’t think so either.” Daisy says, before hitting play for the last time. Thriller by Michael Jackson starts playing.

“Oh, I think I’ve watched Thirteen Going on Thirty enough times to know this by heart. Watch out, Moir.”

And she wasn’t wrong. She nails the moves. When she’s finished, they say their goodbyes and both ask for votes. Scott tells everyone to remember Puck’s face.

“You wouldn’t want to disappoint that cute little face, would you?” He says while looking at the camera.

“And we’re done!” Daisy announces. “I have to hurry, I’ll shoot a music video today and I’m already late.”

Scott goes to the stereo to take his water bottle. Daisy quickly puts the cameras in their cases and rushes out of the room. There’s dead silence between the both of them. Tessa is the one who breaks the ice this time.

 “Would you like to hang out for a while?

“You don’t ha…” Her face screams _wrong answer, Scott_ , so he stops mid-sentence and tries again. “Are you sure?”

“Yes. I _want_ you to stay.”

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Up next:  
> @Virtuemoir_14: OH MY GOD. Scott slept at Tessa’s house. 
> 
> Special shoutout to @NerdyByNature13 for giving me the idea of Tessa (maybe) wearing Scott’s jersey to a game. I loved it!


	7. Coffee, Seals and Mistakes

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Scott and Tessa drink wine. Too much wine. It ends in deep conversations about seals and sharks. It also ends in trouble.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Once again, I can't thank you enough for all the love you've been giving to this little story of ours. Life's been rough for the past couple of months, but writing this has been a therapy for me. I'm so glad you love these characters as much as I do. Also, THANK YOU SO MUCH to the amazing @anakinleias for reading/editing/reacting to this before I posted it. 
> 
> I HOPE YOU ENJOY THIS <3

They’re sitting in opposite sides of her kitchen counter. She has a perfectly nice dining table in the next room, but somehow prefers to eat on the kitchen. Their knees are touching each other below the counter. They keep it that way. No one makes a move to separate them. No one brings it up. They’ve just finished their take out - something they agreed on after an awkward moment.

“Are you hungry?” She asked him after the second glass of wine.

“I’m not.” He politely responds. Too bad his stomach had other thoughts and decided to make a very weird noise to tell her he was, in fact, very hungry. _You traitor._

She laughs a little and gets up to find something for them to eat. She opens her cabinet, then the fridge, and Scott can see the panicked expression on her face.

“I don’t expect you to cook, Tessa. We can order some takeout.”

“Oh, thank God.” And if feels like she’s just got rid of a heavy weight. “I only have eggs and bread, pretty much the only ingredients I use on a daily basis.” She stops for a second, closing the cabinet doors. “Why am I telling him this?” She whispers loudly, then looks at a confused Scott. “Did I say that out loud?”

 

An hour later, they’re still sitting on the kitchen counter. Scott had just texted Cara asking her to check on Puck. He missed her teasing replies.

“You know, you haven’t told me if you forgave me or not.” Scott says.

“I’m barefoot, my hair is completely disheveled from dancing earlier, I’m a little bit drunk” she laughs and makes a gesture that means little, with her fingers almost touching “just a little, and I’m here with you way past my bedtime. I like to think that I wouldn’t do that with people I don’t like.”

“So you not only forgave me… but _like_ me?”

“Don’t be so full of yourself. You’re alright.” She laughs a little. “I like you the same way I like, I don’t know, the way I like coffee. It’s not a big deal, It’s not like I’m about to tattoo the number 14 on my arm, ok?” He’s the one who’s laughing now. “People do that? They don’t, right?” He tries to contain his laugh. “Oh my God, they _do?_ ”

“A guy tattoed my face once. Thank God it was on his arm, not _somewhere_ else.”

“Scott Moir.” She says in her best reporter tone. “What is it like to have someone tattoo your face?”

“Tessa Virtue.” He speaks in the same tone. “What is it like to _be_ the face, I mean, the _person_ so many people look up to?

“Woah. This just got way deeper than I thought it would.” She drinks another sip of her wine. He just looks at her expectantly. “Not an easy task, I would say. But I guess my main challenge is to show people I’m not perfect, you know? I have flaws. Way too many of them.”

“Besides being a terrible country dancer?” He jokes.

“Yes, besides that. And before you ask me to name them, I must remind you, sir, that you owe me a talk about your _bad stuff._ You promised to tell me more about it at your house, but conveniently forgot about it, huh?” Tessa notices his small smile fading away. “But we don’t have to actually talk about it. Not really.”

“No, it’s okay. But I don’t think we’ve had enough wine for this.”

“Come on. It can’t be _that_ bad. What is it? Is this the time you reveal to me that you are a vampire?” They both start laughing again.

“I promise you I’m not a vampire.”

“Did you abandon one of your girlfriends at the altar or something?” She notices he gets serious when she mentions the word _girlfriends_. “Did you? Oh my God, I’m so sorry.” When she realizes she’s touching one of his hands over the counter, she moves her hand back.

“No, no, it’s not that.” He takes the glass to his mouth again and she does the same. “I’ve had three serious girlfriends in my life.” Tessa gives him a look that says _stop playing with me_. “Your lips.” He says as he points to her mouth.

“What?” _Is it bleeding?_ Is what she thinks when she touches them carefully. Scott’s mind goes somewhere else with that view. He shakes his thoughts away to answer her question.

“You’re doing this thing…” He tries to imitate her. “You’re doing this thing with your lips that makes me think you don’t believe me.”

“Come on, _three_ girlfriends? You’re _Scott Moir_ ! What about all the girls Buzzfeed say you dated? I swear, there’s a _‘_ Which Scott Moir Girlfriend Are You’ quiz on their website.”

“Really?” She nods. “Did you take it?” He arches his brows, which by now she already knows it means he’s kidding with her.

“Not the point, Moir.” She blushes. She actually hadn’t taken it, but gave a look at the questions because, you know, she could use the information. For work. “I wanna know about the girlfriends. The real ones.”

“Why is that?” He does the thing with his brows again.

“Research. We’re business partners, remember?” She raises her glass as if she was about to toast. When she’s about to put it back on the counter, he clinks his glass to hers. “What was that for?”

“Us.” He quickly realizes how that sounded like. “To our partnership.”

“You’re trying to change the subject here, Moir.” He can see she’s determined.

“Let’s just say if I had a sister I would never let her date me.”

“But you can’t date your sister!” She jokes. “And why is that?”

“I was a shitty boyfriend to all three of them. Jess was my first girlfriend. I liked her, but I liked even more to show her around, you know? I was the first on my group of friends to have a serious girlfriend. It was over when she realized she could have a better boyfriend. Cass was… different. I don’t think any of us cared that much about each other. She liked having me around, going to fun parties with me as I was learning to navigate the hockey world. When I started to enjoy the parties way more, and believe me, I knew how to enjoy a party, when that became a priority other than hanging out with her, it was over.” He takes finishes his glass. Tessa fills it again, giving him a sign to continue. “And Kaitlyn was my real shot at being like my brothers. At having a family and not having to attend family dinners solo, being dad Scott instead of Uncle Scott.”

“What happened?”

“She wanted to move to Toronto with me. I didn’t. She’d have to quit her career for me. At that time, I wasn’t ready for a commitment that big. Suddenly everything was new to me. A new city, a new team, so many new possibilities. If I stayed close to home, I’d probably be married by now and with a bunch of kids.”

“Would you like that?” Tessa, being the curious creature she is, asks him.

“At that time? No. In the future? Sure. But I had to pursue my dreams in order to be a good father and tell my kids to do the same, right?”

Tessa knows that if her best friend was there at that point, she’d say a funny thing. _What is it again? Oh. That  her ovaries just exploded._ That’s definitely not what Tessa is thinking. Maybe. _It’s the wine, damn it!_

“Sorry, this isn’t bad enough. I’m a little disappointed here.” She jokes again.

“Now that you’ve mentioned disappointment...I feel like one to my family.”

Tessa nearly chokes on her wine. _In what world could you be a disappointment to someone?_ It’s what she wants to tell him. She stays quiet. 

“I’m the youngest son. I was supposed to be home helping my mom take care of the rink, the family business. But no, I’m here, and I don’t have time to go home as much as I’d like to.”

“First of all. I don’t think you’re a disappointment.” She’s serious, but he interrupts her anyway.

“Is this a compliment? Are _you_ complimenting _me_ ?” _And there is that damn eyebrow again._

“Again, not the point here. You’re Scott Moir! The star of the Leafs.” She moves her hands as if she’s showing him a lettering sign. Kids look up to you. Their dads want to be you. Their moms probably want you.” _And you shouldn’t have said that last part out loud, Tessa Virtue._

“I don’t know about that.” _Oh, I do._

“Are we opening up to each other?” Scott can tell she’s beggining to feel a little tipsy.

“I think so.” He shrugs.

“Maybe I should tell you something about being a disappointment. But I need another glass of wine for this.”

He’s never seen someone drink a full glass of wine that fast. She clears her throat.

“Growing up, all I wanted to do was become a ballet dancer. That meant practicing almost everyday, for many hours, taking way too expensive classes. When the National Ballet invited me for summer camps or other things it was my mom who had to drive me all the way here, missing work, prioritizing my career over hers. “Can you imagine having to tell your mother, who sacrificed so much for your dream, that you don’t want to do it anymore?” She takes another sip and breathes deeply.

“And you know what she told me the day I finally had the guts to tell her I wanted to quit ballet? She said ‘T, life allows you to have other dreams, you know. There’s nothing wrong with choosing to follow one over the other. I’ll never say this to my mom, but today I think that ballet was more like a dream of hers than mine. And maybe taking care of the rink was your mom’s dream for you, but you have one of your own. It’s okay to pursue that. Can I tell you something?” She whispers, as if she’s preparing to tell him a huge secret.

“What?”

“I think you’re doing just fine.”

And then he bursts out laughing.

“I mean, you’re an _okay_ player, your team is _alright_ , so I truly think you’re doing fine.”

Tessa notices him looking deep into her eyes.

“Thank you.”

She knows he means it, but suddenly the air became too serious for her taste. And for her level of alcohol as well.

“Thank you isn’t enough. You owe me a dance, Moir. Preferably one where you don’t step on my feet.” She gets up and looks for her phone. She opens Spotify and presses play on the list of Hall and Oates songs before depositing the phone back on the counter and holding out a hand to Scott, who seems that he can’t believe the scene in front of him.

“I’m not dancing to that.”

“But it’s Hall and Oates!”

“Exactly. Do you have something that’s less than a hundred years old?”

“I’m not dancing to a country song, Scott.”

“Maybe just put on a random playlist. We’ll dance to whatever pop song is playing.”

“Do you prefer a random song that probably talks about feeling like a plastic bag lifting through the wind over dancing to Hall and Oates?

“Yeah." She rolls her eyes. Troye Sivan’s “Dance to This” starts playing. Scott finally stands up in front of her. Daring her to make the first move. _What are you waiting for?_ It’s what she thinks. _It’s your turn to reach me._ It’s what he’s thinking. She takes a step closer. He doesn’t move. _What are you doing, Moir?_ She gets closer.

When she’s close enough to touch his body with her own, he puts one hand on her waist and the other behind her neck. She mirrors his movements. Their hips are touching. He puts his left leg in between hers, swaying their hips from side to side. She keeps following the movements. And the hard breathing. She doesn’t know which heart is beating faster. His or her own.

When she tries to look him in the eyes, their noses brush. They both stop for a second, with their legs still intertwined. She breathes hard once. He does the same. He’s nervous. That’s why he says the first thing that crosses his mind beside _I want to kiss her so badly._

 

“Let’s go somewhere else.”

“What?” They’re still holding each other.

“Is there a place in Toronto you want to visit but haven’t  before? It’s late, no one would see us.” She finally breaks the contact. _I can’t think like this._

“Wait a minute. Let me just…” _Sit down and regain the control over my body._ He’s back to his seat as well. “Do you want some water?” He nods. “That’s it!”

“What?”

“ _Water_.” She says like it’s the first time the word is leaving her mouth. He isn’t following and his face shows it. “The aquarium. Ripley’s Aquarium. I’ve never been there.”

“Let’s go. Let’s go there.” His tone matches her excitement. He gets up and tries to find his car keys in his pocket, but realizes he actually didn’t drive to her house. Cara had given him a ride from the arena to Tessa’s house.  

“Wait, I can’t go there wearing this.” She points to her gym outfit. “I promise I won’t take long.” And she runs to her bedroom, leaving Scott on his own. He decides to walk around the kitchen to kill some time. _It would be creepy to leave the room._ In less than a minute, he’s pretty sure Tessa has never used a lot of those utensils. He laughs a little when he remembers the video in which she burnt rice. _Who burns rice?_ He notices a framed poster on the wall, right by the fridge. When he’s close enough to read what’s written, he can’t help the grin that appears on his face. If he had a cup of coffee in his hands, he surely would have dropped it at that moment.  And if he hadn’t hypothetically dropped his hypothetical cup of coffee before, he would definitely do it when Tessa stands at the kitchen door and her voice frees him of his whirlwind of thoughts.

 _“What are you doing?”_  

“Nothing.” He knows he probably looks like a 10 year-old boy that just got busted.

“Are you blushing?”

“Am not.” She takes a few steps towards him, who tries to cover the poster with his body.

“You are!”

“I’m sure it’s just the lighting of the room. Are you ready to go?”

“Yes, but I just looked it up on Google and saw that it closes in fifteen minutes.”

And then they’re out of the kitchen, leaving behind an innocent poster, the reason for a man’s grin and subsequent blushing.

**\-----------xxx----------**

“But it’s 10:59. There’s still a minute left.” Scott tries to convince the ticket lady. It isn’t working.

“Scott.” Tessa whispers, covering her mouth so the lady wouldn’t see what she’s saying. “Do the thing with your mouth.” She tried to move her mouth, imitating him, just like she did on his kitchen after he finished his presentation on the reasons why she should forgive him.

“What?” It was a little bit dark, he couldn’t properly see her face, so he got closer.

“The thing you do, the smile. The inappropriate one.” _The smirk._ “Do it. It will work.” When he looked at the lady and was about to use all his charm on her, she said:

“Are you Tessa Virtue? The Virtuous Life? My daughter loves you!” So much for going unnoticed. “Wait a minute. David! David!” She nearly screamed. A security guard approached her. “Do you think you can let this lovely woman and her… hum…” She takes another look at Scott. “Her _boyfriend_ spend a few minutes inside? They didn’t know the closing time was eleven.” She winks at Tessa and Scott as if she was trying to tell them _I’ve got this._

“I’m not her…” Tessa interrupts him, holding his arm lightly. People already thought they were dating anyway, it wouldn’t hurt to enjoy something because of it, right?

“Fine. But you only have twenty minutes.”

“Sir, I’d like to swim with the sharks.” Said a tipsy Scott. Tessa tries to contain her laugh.

“He does not, sir. Thank you for letting us in.”

The signs tell them they’re at the Ray Bay. The room gives the sensation of actually being under water, surrounded by the rays and the other fish. Scott grabs his phone from his pocket to try to take a picture of a stingray. Tessa wants to take a mental picture of him and that moment.

“Earth to Tessa.” He snaps his fingers in front of her.

“Sorry. This is beautiful.” She says, not looking at anything other than the man in front of her.

“It is. But come on, we still have a lot to see.” He fights the urge to hold out his hand for her. Suddenly his fingers are tingling, like they are in deep need of holding that girl’s fingers.

 

“Don’t you sometimes think we’re inside an aquarium?” She asks him when they stand in front of the seals.

“But we sort of are?” He seems confused.

“No, not literally.” She laughs. “I mean, don’t you feel like you’re behind this huge glass and there’s a lot of people on the other side watching you, with phone cameras pointed at you, expecting you to do something?” He nods, giving her a sign to continue. “Like you’re this seal and people are waiting for you to do something funny. And they’ll be disappointed if you don’t. But you’re a seal and you know that this is your job. I mean, I don’t know if they know, but that’s not the point here. Do you feel that? Like you don’t want to let people down, but sometimes you wish you could just hide and ignore the crowd? Or you wish you could meet other seals and interact with them without being instagrammed every three seconds?”

“I’d like to think I’d be a shark, thank you very much, but I understand what you’re saying. Maybe the key thing to keep in mind here is that you don’t always have to put on a show. Yeah, people might get disappointed, but they’ll walk a couple of steps and find other animals to entertain them. I guess what I’m trying to say here is that you don’t always have to be so hard on yourself. You don’t have to be perfect all the time. And if you can’t hide, what’s the point of still trying to do it? You’d be wasting time with something you know that’s not going to happen when you could just… live. Yeah, the crowd will see everything you’re doing, but at some point they’ll get tired. They’ll realize there are other animals for them to see. And you? You’d be living your life. Doing whatever it is that you want to do.”

“Oh my God. We’ve had too much wine. We’re such lame philosophers, Moir.” She laughs, resting her hands in his chest. When she realizes what she’s doing, she doesn’t back away.

“And now I feel bad for staring at that seal.”

“To be fair, it was staring at us as well.”

“Do you think it is expecting us to do something funny?”

“If it is, you could do your John Travolta moves again. Never seen anything funnier.” She tries to imitate him, mocking his moves.

“Really? What about your non-existent country moves? Way funnier!” He holds her right hand and twirls her, bringing her closer to him.

“Scott. Be discreet, but I think the seal _is_ staring at us.”

“What do you think it is on its mind right now?”

“I bet it is thinking ‘what a couple of weird humans’”. She laughs a little.

“That was your seal voice? It can get better.” He brings their bodies even closer. “And you mean a couple as in two people or a couple as in a couple-couple?” And there it is, in all it’s glory. Scott Moir’s smirk.

“You’re impossible.”

“I bet it is shipping us.” Their noses are touching.

“Too bad we’re not a couple then.” She brushes their lips lightly.

“But we could be.” He does the same.

“Could we?” They’re even closer.

“I promise you I’m not that bad.”

“And how exactly are you planning to prove me that?”

“We could start with a kiss.”

“A kiss?”

“Yes.”

“What if it’s bad?” She asks him.

“Do you remember how we danced earlier, at your place?”

“Yes.” She answers. Her voice sounding more like a plea than anything else.

“I bet our lips will dance with each other way better than our feet.”

 

And then he closes the space between them. His lips are firmly pressed against hers. She parts her own, inviting him closer. Her hands hold him behind his neck, playing a little with his hair. She likes the way it feels between her fingers, like it’s caressing her as well. When their tongues meet, they dance. Boy, they dance. It’s almost synchronized and at the same time completely uncoordinated. It’s messy. It’s beautiful.

“I’m sorry I took so long.” She says when they break the kiss to regain their breath. He answers between their lips:

“You were worth the wait.”

And then they hear a cough. The security guard.

“I’m sorry, but it’s time to go, lovebirds.”

 

Tessa tells him there’s no way she’s letting him go home alone after drinking that much. They fall asleep on her couch. She knows they’ve both sobered up when they kissed, but that doesn’t stop her.

He wakes up in the middle of the night, but even though he knows he should go home, he stays. When she wakes up at 6 am, she realizes they’re tangled up in one another. And doesn’t panic. She smiles.

When she manages to get up without waking him up, after fighting his arm that wanted to keep her there, she decides to make some coffee. Tessa grabs the cup and goes back to the living room. She places the cup on the small center table and makes a boomerang to post on her Instagram stories. “Good morning”, is all she writes.

She puts the phone on the table and grabs her cup to actually drink the coffee. Tessa can’t help but look at the way the morning light touched Scott’s features. His sharp jaw, his fluffy hair, his toned arms. _He’s here,_ is what she thinks. And then, a second later, she panics: _he’s here and I have morning breath._ So she runs to her bathroom to brush her teeth, put her hair in a ponytail and, somehow, try to look more presentable. When she’s back in the living room, she notices her phone is going crazy. She opens Twitter and the first thing she reads is this:

Followed by a tweet that had a print of her Instagram story, zoomed in, circling an object that would go completely unnoticed except for the number 14 embroidered on it. Scott’s hockey bag.

Her hands are shaking. Her mind is going even crazier than her phone.

“Scott. Wake up. You have to leave.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Up next: 
> 
> "I can't do this."  
> "Of course you can. Take a deep breath. Try not to fall. Go!"


	8. The reasons why

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> HELLO!  
> It's been a while. So long that I think you should read chapter 7 again before going any further. The last time we "talked", real life Tessa still wasn't a brand ambassador for a company that sells matresses and pillows. Yeah, that's a real thing now (I'm still scared to this day). But as the Leafs' real Twitter account said, and I quote, "patience is a virtue." And I thank you for being patient with me. These past couple of months have been a rollercoaster of emotions, life sucked most of the time, but this thing here - the characters, my words and yours, all the love and crazy reactions - constantly gave me a reason to smile. I won't ever be able to thank you enough. Really. You have no idea. I hope this silly story made you smile at least once as well. If I managed to do that, then well, the mission was accomplished. 
> 
> This is the final chapter, but you're still getting an epilogue some time next week and I'm so excited about it that I managed to write that weeks before this one right here. I'm a sucker for epilogues. Sue me. 
> 
> As always, a special thank you to @claire_smh, @anakinleias and @tulleofdecember20th for being the absolute best and putting up with me and my crazy mind.

The thing is: Tessa had to learn how to deal with fame. There was no guide book that tells you how to cope with the fact that people you’ve never seen in your entire life know who you are. She didn’t ask for this, but eventually she embraced it. Who doesn’t like to feel supported, to be cherished, to receive recognition for your work? But not everything was a bed of roses. That also meant having millions of people judging you, almost waiting for you to mess up. People trying to tell you that you were too thin - _oh, she must be sick!_ \- or too fat. People saying her laugh sounds fake. So, naturally, she created a shield.

She loved YouTube, realized it could really become her profession - and it did - but it also meant living carefully. Thinking about what to say next. Rethinking. To the point it wasn’t easy to tell who she was anymore. So she decided to keep vlogging, but choosing to protect certain aspects of her life. Her love life was one of them. Despite being scared of the idea that guys would only try to get closer to her to enjoy her fame perks, Tessa had a couple boyfriends since The Virtuous Life became a thing. None of them were too serious - they never understood her job and felt threatened by her success or wanted her to tell everyone about the relationship - but kept them a secret anyway. Yes, she felt like she was lying to her audience, but she needed that. She needed to know that there was a part of her that the rest of the country didn’t know of.

But this thing with Scott? She could never hide that. She _literally_ couldn’t. Why wasn’t he a lawyer, a teacher, or even a lesser known hockey player? Tessa didn’t know what to expect from him, from _them_ , but even though they’d never be able to have a proper relationship, she thought they would enjoy whatever was happening between them for a while longer. Well, if it wasn’t for the fact that she revealed to her millions of followers that Scott had slept over.

It all happened really fast. He was confused, repeatedly asking her what was going on. _“I’ve made a mistake, you have to leave”_ , was all that she kept telling him. He nearly forgot his bag. The damn bag. She almost screamed at him for that. He insisted. She was persistent. _“Leave.”_ And he did.

The rest of her coffee was forgotten. Her phone kept buzzing and she couldn’t stop reading her mentions, even though her hands were shaking too much. _This can’t be happening._

__

__

__

It was addicting. She wanted to reply to all of them, but what would she even say? A hundred tweets later, she decided she would tweet Scott, so she typed:

**@ScottMoir I think you’ve left your bag at my place after filming the challenge last night.**

But she never sent that.

When she feels a panic attack coming, she promises herself not to read those tweets anymore. And that’s when she realizes she’s still standing in the middle of her living room, unable to move. Her phone buzzes again. Someone’s calling her. Kaitlyn, of course. She doesn’t answer. Not the first time, or the second.

She walks to her couch and decides that this is it. She’s going to spend the rest of her life laying there. Tessa doesn’t bother eating. She keeps staring at her phone like it’s her biggest enemy - and maybe it is - and ignores all of the calls. Kaitlyn again. Jordan. Scott. Her mom. Scott again. She knows he’s texting her, but she doesn’t read it.

_Even this couch smells like him._

If that’s the reason why she spends her whole day there, nobody has to know that. And if later that day she watches a hockey game on TV for the first time in her life, nobody has to know that. If she cursed at the player who commited a fault against Scott, nobody has to know that either. It’s safe to say none of these events were recorded for a vlog. In fact, she didn’t feel like picking up her camera - something that would keep happening the next few days.

When she wakes up on Sunday, her first thought is _I have to edit the challenge video._ But Tessa knew she didn’t have it in her to watch, edit, then watch again footage that had Scott all over it. She managed to avoid him yesterday - and everyone else as well - and if she could do that again, she would. That’s why she texts Daisy asking if she could edit the video for her. She breathes a sigh of relief when the answer comes and it’s a _yes_.

Her stomach is making funny noises. She feels like there’s a hole in it. So she finds strength to get out of the sofa and go to the kitchen to prepare something to eat. She’s almost finished when her doorbell rings. _Fuck._ She doesn’t move. It rings again.

“I know you’re in there! I can smell your burnt toasts from 200 miles away, Tessa Virtue.” Tessa hears Kaitlyn screaming. “If you don’t open this door, I’m gonna call the police, I swear to God.”

And that was convincing enough. She didn’t need the police at her door, thank you very much.

“What the actual hell is going on?” It’s the first thing Kaitlyn says when Tessa opens the door and she enters the house. “Is he keeping you hostage? Is the sex that good? Where’s your phone?”

“Whoa. Calm down, Kait.”

“Is he here?”

“No.” She stops for a second. “And we didn’t… I mean, it was not like that. It was all very platonic.” Then she remembers how he kissed her neck and how she bit his earlobe, making her shiver. “OK, not _that_ platonic, but still.”

“Remind me again of why exactly do you look like you’re panicking right now?”

“Because I’m a stupid mess. A digital influencer who clearly doesn’t know how to take a picture and keep a secret from an entire country at the same time. They’re saying I _planned_ this, Kait. As if this was part of a big plot to out our…”

“Your what?”

“Whatever this is. Was. Whatever this was. Because there’s no way I’m ever seeing Scott Moir again.”

“Oh. I see. This is all because of that leave-love-out-of-this crap, isn’t it? That’s why you deleted the Insta Story. I thought it was cute, by the way. Of course I was mad because you didn’t care to tell me you are dating Scott Moir, but then I was so happy for you that…” Tessa interrupts her.

“I’m not dating him, Kait. And I won’t because…” And then she’s the one who’s interrupted by the sound of a Facetime call on Kaitlyn’s phone.

“It’s Jordan. She’s really worried about you.”

 

A couple of minutes later, when Kaitlyn ends her TED talk on how Tessa is freaking out over absolutely nothing, Jordan finally speaks.

 

“I hate to be the one to bring this up, but, little sis, have you talked to him?”

“I don’t think he has a clue of what’s going on. He isn’t really interested by the Internet.” Says Tessa.

“You kiss. He stays the night. You kick him out early morning. He’s probably googling ‘why Tessa Virtue hates Scott Moir’ right at this second.” Tessa rolls her eyes. Her sister and Kaitlyn laugh.

“You don’t understand. This isn’t going to work. There’s too many people involved in this. He’s… He’s… He’s _famous_!” She says like it’s the worst thing in the world.

“So are you.” Kaitlyn tells her.

“Exactly!” Tessa speaks in a tone that screams _isn’t it obvious?_

“I know you’ve been reading your Twitter mentions. You don’t owe them anything, Tess. But it comes with the territory, you know? And I’m not talking about the media in general, I’m talking about your fans. You’ve built a whole brand because you’re relatable to your audience. You share a lot of your life online, it’s natural that people are curious about your love life. Specially if it includes one of the best hockey players this nation has ever seen.”

“They have questions, Kait. Questions I don’t even know the answers to. I’m the one in the middle of this thing and I can’t explain it to you, hell, I can’t explain to _myself_ what’s going on. And that’s crazy because it’s not like Scott and I are in a relationship or anything, we just had a very nice thing going on for a few days and them _boom_ , it was over. Was it going to become a real thing? I don’t know. And right now I don’t think we ever will.”

“Well, do you?” Asks Kaitlyn.

“What?”

“Want to know?”

“Tess.” Says Jordan.

“Why are they so invested in this?”

“They want to see you happy, T. And if they’re excited because they think you’re happy and fucking Scott Moir - and let’s be honest here, who wouldn’t be? - let them! You’re a friend to these people, even though you don’t really know any of them personally. But your videos, your words, your attitudes, made them feel like they’re your friends. You’ve helped more people than you think, than you’ll ever be completely aware of. When they’re having shitty days, it’s your videos they watch. It’s you burning rice live on YouTube that makes them laugh. Sometimes, the only time they laughed that day. Or that week. So they become a little emotionally attached to you. And that’s not a bad thing. Again, they want to see you happy. It just proves how amazing and powerful you are. And true fans, they won’t push you for answers. They’ll come up with crazy theories? Probably. They’ll ship you with Scott? You bet your ass they will. But at the end of the day, they know you don’t owe them anything. And because they want to see you happy, they’ll act like this with the possibility of you being in a relationship. They cheer for you. Friends want to know what’s going on in their friend’s life, _you know?_ And honestly, that’s the only thing you should be thinking right now.” Someone clearly had spent a lot of time reading the channel’s hashtag on Twitter.

“But I don’t think Tess is talking only about her fans, Kait. There are the ones who claim they’re fans but don’t act like it, there’s the media…” Kaitlyn gives her a look. “I’m sorry, but we have to find a balance here. It isn’t hell like Tess is thinking it is, but it isn’t heaven as you just described. First of all, we need to know one thing. Tess, do you like him?” She doesn’t answer. “Do you _like him_?” So far, no one had asked her that.

“He makes me… feel things. He gets on my nerves, makes me mad, but only for like a second because how can someone be mad at him when he smiles like that? Or when he looks at you like there’s no other person on this planet but you?”

“So you like him.” States Jordan.

“I guess so.”

“Then why the hell aren’t you making things up with him right now? Or even better, _making out_ with him?” Kaitlyn asks.

“Well, first of all, I think he sort of hates me right now. Second, if we were the only parts of the equation, we wouldn’t be having a problem at all. But we’re not. It’s me, him, and all of Canada. Damn, there are people from freaking Brazil talking about us! Ice hockey isn’t even a thing there.”

“I don’t know about ice hockey, but a great love story? That’s universal.” Says Kaitlyn using her best philosopher’s voice.

“You shouldn’t care that much about other people’s opinions, you know?” Says Jordan.

“I’m sorry, but I do. This is who I am.”

“Well, you didn’t care when mom told you not to quit your job to work full time on your channel.”

“Of course I did!”

“But you still quit anyways. And look where you are right now.”

“Good one, Jo. Good one.” Kaitlyn high fives her through the camera.

“You’re not about to tell me to listen to my heart, are you? This isn’t a romcom, it’s my life!”

“It could very well be one, sis.”

“But truly, you should listen to your heart.” Says Kaitlyn, biting her lip to contain a laugh.

 

Tessa throws a pillow at Kaitlyn. _Urgh_. Even that reminds her of him.

 

When Kaitlyn leaves her house after lunch, Tessa fights the urge to call Scott. What would she say to him? _Hey, I’m sorry I kicked you out of my house. Oh, and this thing between us? Not gonna happen, buddy._ That’s what she should do, but she doesn’t. Because she does not want to say those things and she knows it. So she stays quiet.

**\-------xxxx------**

On Monday, she posts the dance challenge video and the 24-hour poll that’s going to pick the winner. She makes a list of things she could do in order to win that. There was no way she was going to wear his jersey to the next game. No way:

 

 

> 1- Create fake e-mails and Twitter accounts to vote for myself;
> 
> 2- Print some flyers and distribute them at the nearest traffic light;
> 
> 3- Dress as the Twitter bird and beg people to vote;
> 
> 4- Find a software that manipulates the voting system.

If people managed to do that in the USA election, she could find a way to do it in a Twitter poll, right?

Turns out she doesn’t do any of those things. She just uploads the video, tweets the link and doesn’t wait to see how her mentions are going to explode. Tessa can stop herself from reading the tweets, but not from typing “Tessa Virtue” on Google. _I promised not to read tweets, right? This is Google._ It’s what she tells herself. And that’s how she finds this article:

                                                                                      

**Virtue and Moir: Are they or aren’t they?**

 

 

> As Camila Cabello would say, I HAVE QUESTIONS. So many of them. If you clicked on this, you know who Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir are, so I don’t have to write an introduction, do I? Just in case you don’t know, he’s the ice King and she’s our YouTube Queen. After a rough start - who doesn’t remember the twitter beef that made Moir create a Twitter account? - they might be in talks to unite their kingdoms and dominate the world (and our miserable lives). Scott has made two i-c-o-n-i-c appearances on Tessa’s YouTube channel, [The Virtuous Life](https://www.onlinequizcreator.com/how-well-do-you-know-the-virtuous-life/quiz-394452). There were pillows involved.
> 
> And of course, there was the glorious moment when Scott was asked about Tessa after a game and he said “she’s way out of my league.” All of us were left speechless. Our families didn’t understand why we were screaming at the TV _after_ the game was over. Hard to explain.
> 
> They were also seen together at an art exhibition and our sources say they even danced together that night. Well, with Scott’s denial, they could just be very good friends, right?
> 
> I don’t think so. And why is that? Because on Saturday morning Tessa Virtue herself posted a picture on Instagram Stories that contained a very special hockey gear bag. Scott’s bag. All we know is that on Saturday night, after the Leafs lost the game, Moir was asked by a reporter about Virtue. His answer? “I’m here to talk about tonight’s game.” And he deleted his Twitter right after that happened.
> 
> Are they dating? Was that just a friends’ sleepover? Will Canada finally have a royal couple of its own? So. Many. Questions.
> 
> Maybe she is very _into_ his league after all, right?

 

_Hell if I know these answers._

On Tuesday, as soon as she wakes up, she checks the Twitter poll. There are a few hours left, but Scott has 60% of the votes so far. She’s considering doing something from her list when her phone buzzes telling her there’s a new message from Daisy.

  

> **I’m sorry if I overstepped, but I couldn’t help myself. Don’t worry, I’m not posting this anywhere.**

Attached to that is a one minute video compilation of Tessa giggling with or because of Scott during the dancing challenge. If she cries a little, well, no one has to know that either.

 ****In the evening, Leisa emails her.

 

> **Hello, Tessa!**
> 
> **Again, the whole team is so happy with the challenge video. We just broke the record from the last one! *Pops the champagne***
> 
> **We just saw the poll results and I’m sending you this email to cheer you up! We have a surprise for you tomorrow at the game. You can bring a friend with you. And don’t worry, your Moir jersey will be delivered at your house tomorrow morning.**
> 
> ****\- Leisa** **

 

This is it. She’s gonna have to wear Scott’s jersey to the game. She opens the Twitter app to see the results for herself. The first thing she sees is a gif from the dancing challenge, the moment when they start dancing country together. Tessa smiles. That, and the video Daisy sent her in the morning, allow her to think for the first time about Friday’s events. She closed her eyes and it was like she could trace his face in her mind, His eyes. His dorky smile. His brows that had a life of their own. The way he touched her when they danced in her kitchen. But then, the phone in her hand reminds her of the tweets she’s read. The article. Words, questions, assumptions.

 

 ****_“I bet our lips will dance with each other way better than our feet.”_ She remembers Scott saying.

“Are they or aren’t they?”

_“You were worth the wait.”_

_“_ She was quick to show him how to live a good life.”

_“I don’t expect you to cook, Tessa.”_

“SO MANY QUESTIONS.”

And then she thinks of the words that are about to change everything. His words.

_“If you can’t hide, what’s the point of still trying to do it? You’d be wasting time with something you know that’s not going to happen when you could just… live.”_

She texts Kaitlyn: **“Do you have a Leafs’ shirt?** **We have a date tomorrow.”**

**\-------xxxx------**

“Why are you so nervous? I know you’re wearing his jersey and everything, but you won’t even have to talk to him, you know.” Kaitlyn says as soon as they leave Tessa’s car and start walking towards the arena.

“But that’s the problem. I want to.” She bites her lip. Tessa’s been keeping that a secret.

“To _talk_ to him?” Tessa nods. “Aphrodite really did hear my prayers. Thank you, goddess!”

“I’m gonna text Cara and ask her how can I see him after the game.”

 ****When they open the doors and enter the VIP area, Tessa realizes there’s no need to text Cara. She’s right there, talking to Leisa. Tessa - with Kaitlyn right behind her taking in everything around them - approaches the two and then notices a ball of black fur wearing a Leafs’ jersey in Cara’s arms. After a moment of recognition, the ball starts barking at her.

 ****“Puck, what is it?” Cara asks him. She puts him on the floor.

“Hey, little guy.” Says Tessa, kneeling down to pet him. He barks again. “I know your dad is mad at me, but I thought maybe you and I could be friends?”

 ****He’s still barking.

“I’m gonna try to talk to him tonight, do you think I should do that?” And then he stops. He puts his head in her lap. “I’ll take that as a yes.”

“Please do. I don’t speak dog language, but I think that is a yes. And I think you should. You know, talk to him.” Says Cara.

 ****And that was all she needed to hear.

She would be glad to not hear anything else for a while if that meant she wouldn’t be able to listen to what Leisa was about to tell her.

 ****“There she is. The star of the night!” _Because I lost a challenge?_

“Hi, Leisa. This is Kaitlyn, my best friend.”

“Hello, Kaitlyn.” Leisa greets her with kisses on her cheeks. “Did you know that your friend here will have a special role at tonight’s game?” Whatever that is, Cara knows about it, Tessa can tell.

“What?” Asks Tessa, a little terrified.

“You’re gonna drop the puck tonight.”

It’s ten minutes later, Cara and Leisa are nowhere to be seen, and Kaitlyn had just returned to Tessa’s side with a glass of water in her hands.

 ****“Here. Drink it.” Kaitlyn notices her friend’s hands are shaking. “ _Tess_.”

“Kait, it was one thing to come here wearing his jersey. But now? Now I have to stand there, in the middle of the ice, in front of almost twenty thousand people at the arena, a million or so at home. I just wanted to talk to him, figure this out, just us two. See? There’s too many people involved in this. Too many.”

“Stop freaking out, T. Yes, the fact that you’re wearing his jersey and dropping the puck before his game is probably going to make people keep talking about you guys. But you can’t control this, okay? What you can control is the fact that you’re still talking to him after the game. Because you are. You’re still figuring this out together. Tonight.” Leisa reappears and makes a sign for Tessa to follow her. It’s time.

“I can’t do this.”

“Of course you can. Take a deep breath. Try not to fall. Go.” Kaitlyn sends her away by tapping her butt.

 ****Once Leisa leaves her at the beginning of the tunnel that leads to the ice with a _you’re amazing, you’ll nail it!_ , it’s like the noise from the arena disappears. It’s just Tessa, a dark tunnel and the beating of her heart. Well, that and Scott’s words from last Friday.

 

_“If you can’t hide, what’s the point of still trying to do it?”_

And as she walks towards the ice and the man in a suit that’s waiting for her, she misses the moment she’s announced.

 ****“Ladies and gentlemen, please draw your attention to center ice to celebrate this incredible night at Scotiabank Arena with a ceremonial puck drop. From the YouTube videos to this very cold arena, let’s give a warm welcome to Tessa Virtue, brand ambassador for our beloved sponsor Casper’s, joined by our former captain, number 12, Drew Campbell.”

She misses it because all she thinks at the moment is _I don’t wanna hide anymore._

She tries to smile and doesn’t know how she manages to walk the blue carpet leading to center ice. It’s all a blur.

 ****“You know the home player is always the winner, right? You have to drop the puck for Moir.” Drew tells her. When she nods, pretending that yes, of course she knows that, and tries to take in the view in front of her - the low lights, the smell of ice, the people, so many of them - she sees him coming closer to her. _Scott._ Suddenly, he’s right in front of her, but not exactly looking at her. He’s avoiding her eyes. The other team’s captain approaches them as well and before they get ready for their fake face off, he shakes her hand. Scott shakes Drew’s. When the other player makes the move to greet Drew, Scott extend his hand to her. She could swear he looked at her for a fraction of a second. She shakes his hand. The touch of his hand make her how body shiver. And then Drew breaks the moment, handing her the puck and gesturing with his hands for her to drop it. And she does. She misses the arena going wild, as if none of them knew that Scott would win that already. Scott picks it from the floor and gives it back to her. He still doesn’t look into her eyes.

 ****“It’s yours.” Drew says at the same time she mouths _we have to talk_. Before Scott has the chance to say anything, the anthem is announced and Drew leads her back to the tunnel.

The Leafs win 4-3. As soon as the game ends, Cara texts her giving directions to the locker rooms. Kaitlyn tells her to take her time and not to worry about her because she promised Andrew she would take as many pictures as she could and she planned on doing that. Tessa’s stopped a few times for pictures. Tries to smile, to shake hands. _You’re gonna talk to him and it’s going to be fine._ It’s what she kept thinking on her way to the locker room.

 ****But Scott had other plans.

All the other players had already left, but of course he was the last one to leave, late for the mixed zone interviews. He’s walking fast, but when he notices her presence, right next to Cara, he stops.

“What are you doing here? You know there are reporters here, right?” He finally looks at her. His eyes and his voice tone show how much he’s hurt. Tessa feels that.

“Scott.” Cara scolds him.

“I’m late for the interviews.”

“I can tell them you’ll be out there in five.” Then, ironically, he says:

“I don’t want to be late.” He starts walking again, without giving Tessa a chance to speak. He’s still able to listen to Cara when she says “I’m sorry, Tessa.” He stops, a few steps away from them, and turns back to say “Don’t be. It’s not like she wants to be seen with me anyways.” And then leaves.

“He has every right to be mad at me, it’s alright, I don’t know why I thought that this would work and…” Cara interrupts her.

“I don’t know what happened between the two of you, but I can imagine, Tessa. There’s one thing you should know about Scott. That boy wears his heart on his sleeve. And it’s clear to me that he likes you. Or he wouldn’t care. He just wouldn’t. I know him more than I know myself sometimes.”

“I don’t know, I…”

“He does. As I said, I don’t know what happened between you guys, but trust me. He’ll listen to what you have to say. You just have to try a little bit harder next time.”

When Kaitlyn meets her, she knows better than to ask what happened. The whole ride to her house was silent. Tessa was lost in her own mind, replaying the recent events in her head. _You just have to try a little bit harder next time._ That’s what she’s thinking when she falls asleep. And it’s also the first thought that comes to her mind when she wakes up a couple of hours later and realizes it’s 2 a.m.

 ****And then it hits her. She’s going to do what she does best. Faster than she’s ever done this before, she sets up everything. The tripod. The mic. The camera. The light. It has to be fast or she could change her mind. Tessa changes her clothes, fixes her bun, pinches her cheeks a little bit to bring color to them, and smiles. She claps to mark the beginning of the video.

**“Hey guys! I know you were not expecting a video on this channel today. This is a little bit different. The thing is: I’ve made a mistake.”** She plays with the ends of her hair, something she does when she’s nervous.

 **“A huge one. And this is the way that I found to say sorry. We’ve talked about apologies and forgiveness before, I’m sure you remember. This time, I’m not the one that’s forgiving someone, I’m the one who’s asking for it. I still can’t believe I’m actually doing this, but I am, so…”.** She takes a deep breath. **“Scott Moir, here are the reasons why I think you should forgive me.”**

 **“I’ve always loved to dance. It was my life for so many years. But I always danced alone. On stage in front of an audience or at home just being silly or turning my feelings into dance moves. It’s amazing to dance alone. Just you, your thoughts, your body, your moves. But recently, I’ve come to the realization that it’s way more fun to dance with someone else. To have some sort of extension from your own body. To mirror a move, to react to a touch. And I… I like dancing with you.”** She stops talking for a second and just smiles.

 **“Even though you won the challenge, I think I’m a much better dancer than you – no offense – and I could give you a lesson or two. So forgiving me means you’re gonna get some free dance classes.”** She laughs.

 ******“There’s something else.”** She points out. **“Someone once told me there’s more to life than social media and I know it’s going to take me a while to understand that, but** **_you_ ** **could give me a lesson or two on that, eh?”**

 ******“Also, I need to remind you that you have this huge problem on your hands. You get too much free chocolate. I keep thinking about those poor, lonely bars and truffles and bonbons and it’s so unfair to abandon them in some box around your house. They need to be cherished. And loved. And I have so much love for them, so it truly is a perfect fit.”**

 ******“I’ve been thinking about the aquarium. A lot. And I don’t want to hide, Scott. Not anymore. It’s not that I can’t hide, because God knows I can – well, except when I have a phone with an Instagram app on my hands and you in my living room – but I don’t want to. I want to** **_live._ ** **Do you think a seal and a shark could share the same space? Maybe the shark could help the seal in this transition?**

 ******“Please, think about all of these very important reasons. Specially the chocolates. Don’t forget about them.”** She laughs a little and then finishes the video mouthing **“I’m sorry.”**

 ****She doesn’t care it’s 3 a.m now. She uploads the video anyways.

Four hours later, she’s woken up by the sound of her door bell. She’s still trying to open her eyes when she opens the door. Tessa’s fully awake the second she reads the word _Lindt_ written in the huge box in front of her. Then she realizes that she’s wearing a camisole in front of the stranger whose face is covered by the size of the box.

 ****“I’m sorry, It’s so early, I wasn’t expecting any delive…” And then the person holding the box lowers it a little and Tessa gasps. “ _Scott?_ ”

“It’s just that I’ve had this box delivered at my place yesterday, I didn’t know what to do with it and I heard there’s a chocolate fan that lives here…”

“Oh, shut up and kiss me.”

She thanks God for the fact that she doesn’t live in an apartment. Or her neighbors would’ve been woken up by the sound of a huge box falling on the floor.

 ****Some time later, when they’re laying in bed, lost in a mess of white sheets, bodies tangled up in one another, Scott says:

 ****“Tess?”

“Hm?”

“Can I ask you something?” His voice tone was serious. She worries. Did he regret doing this? How could he?

“Yes?” It sounded very unsure.

“Do you know how can I reactivate my Twitter account?” She bursts out laughing. “I’m serious, there’s something I need to do.”

 ****She sets everything up, gives him his phone back and just laughs at his attempt to hide what’s on his screen as he types something. A minute later, her own phone buzzes. It’s a Twitter alert.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Comments are always appreciated :)
> 
> Up next:
> 
> "I won that dancing challenge years ago and lost the opportunity to vlog for the first time. I don't know if this counts as a vlog considering I'm not uploading on YouTube, but it feels like it. So, T, welcome to my vlog!"


	9. Epilogue

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tessa and Scott share a very special video with The Virtuous Life's subscribers.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh my God. I don't even know what to say right now. I have mixed feelings. I'm happy because I managed to actually finish something and I'm so sad because this means I'm saying goodbye to those characters that I love very much. But most of all, as always, I'm thankful. Thankful for your words of encouragement, your kudos, your comments and your tweets. They mean so much to me. I've thought about maaaybe recording a video to thank you all properly, but in the end I was just like "that's very presumptuous of me" and canceled my plans haha 
> 
> I have to thank @anakinleias and @claire_smh for reading this and sending me your thoughts (and yells) and the INCREDIBLE, OUT OF THIS WORLD @vmimagines for the wedding picture. I still owe you the fic where Tessa finds out you're Jordan. 
> 
> Thank you all for joining me on this crazy journey, ignoring the English mistakes always lifting me up. I really hope you all love this epilogue as much as I do. Enjoy! :)

**“Hey guys! I’m here with Scott…”** She can’t help but say his name in a soft tone.  **“We wanted to share a few things with you.”**

They’re sitting at the end of their bed. It’s the first time the viewers are allowed to see their bedroom. They moved into this house almost a year ago, - when Tessa realized Scott’s clothes were pretty much all in her closet and he hadn’t stepped foot in his apartament for a month - but their room was off limits in her vlogs. It was never filmed. Well, except for that day when Scott got a little creative and they did a small movie of their own. A movie that would never be seen by others. 

Tessa felt like that room was their sacred space and wanted to keep it to themselves. But when time came to shoot this special video, they realized it would be nice to do it there. The predominant white that was a characteristic of her old house was still very much present, but now had glimpses of navy blue, with the decor showing traces of both of their personalities - but mostly hers,  _ of course. _

She never did one of of those very popular house tour videos, even though everyone kept asking her for that. Inevitably people were able to picture their whole house through her vlogs. Well, most of it anyway. The reason why she could never do a house tour was because Scott had already done that and it was something she wanted to keep close in her heart - and safe on her Google Drive.

**“Hello, internet people!”** They both laugh. The frame doesn’t show it, but they’re holding hands. 

**“This is going live a few minutes after Scott posts** **_something_ ** **on his Instagram.”**

**“They’ve probably seen it by now, right?”** She nods nervously. He squeezes her hand.

 

**“We’re married!”** They say in perfect unison because yeah, they are that kind of couple. 

**“For about four months.”** Says Tessa in an almost apologetic tone. They kept the whole engagement a secret in order to not have any celebrity magazines investigating when the wedding would happen or where. So the secret was safe in the bubble of their family and closest friends, who, by the way, found out about the proposal way before she did. 

_ Scott told Tessa they’d have dinner at their favorite restaurant to celebrate getting the keys to their first house together. She got ready - wearing his favorite dress of hers, a red, v-neck - and he still wasn’t home from practice. Late, as always. She tried calling him, but he didn’t answer. It was time for their reservation and not a single word from him. Tessa was trying to decide if she should be mad or worried. When she was about to call Cara to ask if she knew where he was, he texted her.  _

 

**_I’m so sorry I’m late. They called to tell me there was water leaking from our house. Can you meet me here?_ **

_ When she got there, she realized two things: one, there was no sign of a leak. Two, the front door was open. Making a mental note to remind him that even though that was a condo of houses with security and stuff and there wasn’t a single thing in there yet, they shouldn’t leave it open.  _

_ “Scott?” She walked into the house, being greeted by a very excited Puck. He was ecstatic about their new home. The first time they brought him to the house, they were worried about how energetic he got, running around, almost hitting the walls. _

_ “Hey, baby! Where’s your irresponsible father? He almost give me a heart attack!.” Puck stops running in circles around her and runs to the backyard, stopping just before he crossed the door to check if she was following him. She was. When they pass by the pool and she gets at the top of the stairs that lead to the backyard, she’s surprised by the scenario in front of her.  _

_ There was Scott, wearing a suit, under the huge tree that now had little lights all around her like Christmas came early. She recognizes the two chairs from his kitchen - and a pillow on the floor that she assumes is for Puck - that complete the outdoor cinema that’s set up over there. The big screen, a movie projector, a sound system and all. She didn’t know that behind the huge screen there was a table with dinner from the restaurant they did not have a reservation for, a bottle of champagne and two glasses.  _

_ She’s standing still at the stairs, looking between the whole thing and Scott.  _ Scott,  _ that has a full on smile on his face. Tessa can’t help but remember the first time she went to his house, when he made a presentation about why she should forgive him. She felt like it was yesterday and a lifetime ago at the same time.  _

_ So much has happened since then. A few more challenges, uncountable hockey games, the struggle to keep private the details of their very public relationship, meeting each other’s families, falling in love with said families, building a strong relationship based on trust, companionship and love, so much love.   _

_ When she finally walks down the stairs and her very high heels make her almost stumble on the grass on her walk towards him, she speaks:  _

_ “Scott? What’s all this?” She laughs a little. Leave it to Scott to wear a suit to celebrate buying a house. “Is this about the house or did I forget a special date?” She reaches him and he drops a small peck on her lips.  _

_ “Relax. We’re here to celebrate my Twitter account’s third birthday.”  _

_ “Really? With movie night?” _

_ “I guess you could say that. Now, sit down.” He says kindly, pointing to the chairs.  _

_ “Okay?” She’s still confused. “Wait a second, I’m gonna take these off.” She looks at her shoes. Once her feet are bare and she breathes a sigh of relief, he starts talking.  _

_ “You know I won that dancing challenge years ago and lost the opportunity to vlog for the first time?” She nods, getting more confused by the second. He sits right next to her, a remote control in his hand. “I don’t know if this counts as a vlog considering I’m not uploading on YouTube, but it feels like it. So, T, welcome to my vlog!” He presses play and his face fills the screen.  _

**_“Hey, babe.”_ ** _ He says at the camera, the angle keeping his forehead almost all out of frame. _ **_“I’ve tried starting this five times already and I’ve messed it up, so maybe this one actually is good enough. I’m also editing this myself, so I hope it works.”_ ** _ He looks nervous on the screen. Tessa looks at him right by her side, her eyes asking him again  _ what’s going on _ and he just shrugs.  _

_ He moves the camera to show where he is. At the door of their house.  _ **_“If you’re wondering what the hell this is about, I tell you: this is a house tour.”_ ** _ Tessa laughs. Scott squeezes her hand. The video shows his hand opening the door, revealing the entrance hall. “ _ **_As you know, there’s nothing here yet. This is the first view when we enter the house.”_ ** _ He walks around showing the living and dining rooms before getting into the kitchen.  _

**_“I feel like I’m on MTV Cribs. Give me a cap, a golden chain and a hoodie and I’m ready. Oh, here’s the kitchen. This is where I’ll do all the cooking and where you will make funny faces because you’re scared of some poor, harmless vegetables.”_** _She smacks him in the arm. The video is blank for a couple of seconds and he tells her he is sorry, blushing a little. She tells him he’s doing really good so far, that she’s actually scared about losing viewers to him._

**_“This is your office, where you’re gonna have skype calls to close way too many business deals and execute your ideas to conquer the world.”_ ** _ She kisses his cheek.  _

**_“This is my favorite room. This is where the magic happens.”_ ** _ He turns the camera to himself and makes a gesture to indicate an explosion or something. That’s the master bedroom. Their room.  _ **_“But magic is too good to be restrained in only one room, right? I think we should make it happen in every room. Make this a magical house, what do you think?”_ **

_ He blinks at the camera. Tessa laughs. On the screen, he’s pointing at the wall right next to the stairs. In  _ real life  _ Tessa feels him tense next to her.  _

**_“I was looking at this wall, thinking about what we could do with it. I think we should hang here our favorite wedding pictures.”_ ** _ Tessa gasps. He holds her hand tighter, a smile showing up on his face.  _ **_“Oh, wait. I have to do something before we actually take those pictures, eh?_ ** _ ” _

_ And then his image fades and the video cuts to Kate.  _ Oh my God, Scott, _ says Tessa, unable to think about any other words. He looks at her like he wants to say  _ just wait, babe. 

_ She recognizes where Scott and Kate are. It’s Kate’s kitchen back in London. And then it hits her. A couple weeks ago, when she had one of the busiest weeks ever - and Scott knew that - he decided to visit his family in Ilderton. She wanted to go with him, to see Alma, Joe and her own family in London, but she couldn’t. So she got really mad at him. Barely talked to him during his stay there.  _

_ “That’s what you were doing back home?” She asks. When he nods, she starts shaking.  _ This is happening.

**_“Kate?”_ ** _ He’s sitting at the kitchen table while she prepares hot chocolate for the both of them.  _

**_“Yes?”,_ ** _ she looks at him. “ _ **_What is this?”_ ** _ Kate points at his phone.  _

**_“It’s just that me and Tessa are doing another challenge and it required me to put you on camera.”_ **

**_“Me?”_ ** _ She seems flattered.  _

**_“Yeah. You’re very popular among T’s fans, you know?”_ **

**_“Yes, darling.”_ ** _ She flips her hair playfully.  _ **_“Of course. What is this challenge?”_ **

**_“You just have to answer a question.”_ **

**_“That’s too easy! What is it?”_ ** _ She’s focused on the chocolate -  Scott knows now how Tessa ended up with a sweet tooth - not even looking at him. _

**_“It’s no big deal.”_ ** _ He jokes.  _ **_“I just wanted to ask for your blessing to marry T, but we could talk about someth…”_ **

**_“WHAT? Oh my God, oh my God!”_ ** _ , she abandons the chocolate at the counter and rushes to hug him. The image is now shaky, you can’t clearly see what’s going on.  _ **_“Of course!”_ **

_ When Scott notices that Tessa is crying, he kisses her cheek and tells her  _ it’s not over.  _ Jordan is on the screen now. She’s walking in front of Scott at what looks like Tessa’s go-to mall in Toronto.  _

**_“I still don’t understand why we’re at the mall. Couldn’t we have lunch somewhere else? This is way too busy.”_ ** _ She stops to look at him with an annoyed look on her face. He’s holding his phone casually so she doesn’t realize he’s filming her. He feels so proud of that.  _

**_“It’s just that…”_ **

**_“Scott._ ** **Scott.** **_Look at these people sitting on the bench. They’re taking pictures of us and thinking we can’t see them. Oh my God. Do they think I’m Tessa? Do I have to pose?_ ** _ ” Scott laughs. Jordan keeps walking and fails to notice that he had stopped in front of a store.  _

_ “ _ **_What are you doing over…”_ ** _ and then she notices he’s filming. “ _ **_Moir, are you…? Oh my God. FINALLY! But hey, if I’m helping you pick the ring, the least you could do for me is convince Tessa to let me be her maid of honor, right? I love Kaitlyn, but I’m her sister! Her only sister. I’m gonna be just like Pippa Middleton.”_ **

_ He didn’t get the reference, but whatever suited her best.  _

_ Kaitlyn’s reaction came right next. Her part ends when she looks at the camera fiercely and says  _ **_“It’s on, Jordan Virtue.”_ **

_ And then Casey is on the screen. They’re in Scott’s kitchen this time, probably when he came to Toronto to visit Tessa and Scott took him to one of his games while she was at some business dinner.  _

**“Casey?”**

**“Huh?”**

**“How do you feel about the Leafs’ win tonight?”**

**“Amazing, man. You guys were incredible. Are you doing that instagram stories thing?”** _He’s confused by the fact Scott is filming him. He can’t even hide this time. He actually shot this part before Jordan’s, so he didn’t exactly know how to be subtle yet. Casey goes to the fridge to grab beers for them._

**“And how do you feel about me marrying your sister?”**

**“What?”** _And then both of the beers crash to the floor._

_ Next up is Kevin.  _

**_“Why are you filming me, man? You an YouTuber now? Spending way too much time with little T?”_ ** _ They’re at Kevin’s living room in London.  _

**_“I just wanted to run something by you.”_ **

**_“Really?”_ ** _ He seemed surprised. Scott was a lot closer to Casey than to him, so he didn’t immediately understand why his sister’s boyfriend wanted his opinion on something. _

**_“Yeah. Do I have your blessing to marry your sister?”_ ** _ Kevin stared at him wide-eyed. Scott could see he was processing the information.  _

**_“Finally making an honest woman out of my sister, huh? It’s about time, man!”_ ** _ He stands up to give Scott a hug but stops in the middle of his movement.  _ **_“Wait. Does this mean I’m getting free tickets to see the Leafs for like… forever? Don’t tell Jordan, but Tessa is my favorite sister. Best sister ever.”_ **

_ Tessa, full on crying by now, had to laugh at that. And then she sees Poppy.  _

**_“Poppy, can you keep a secret?”_ ** _ Scott was clearly sitting on the floor, approximately a hundred dolls between him and Poppy.  _

**_“Yes, Uncle Scott. I’m very good at keeping secrets. You know my best friend Milly, right? She told me once that she got so mad at her older cousin because she told her she wouldn’t play with her, that Milly broke her favorite doll. Can you imagine? And I keep this secret for her.”_ ** _ He bites his lip to contain his laugh. Maybe her secret wasn’t a secret anymore? _

**_“Well, you’ll have to work a little bit harder on this one, alright?”_ **

**_“Do you want me to pinky promise?”_ **

**_“Yes, I’d like that.”_ ** _ The camera focuses on their hands. When they finish, she looks at him expectantly. _

**_“What is it?”_ **

**_“I’m gonna ask your Aunt Tessa to marry me.”_ **

_ And then Poppy starts crying.  _

**_“Why are you crying, kiddo?”_ **

**_“If you marry Aunt T does this mean you won’t be able to marry other girls? You’re gonna stay married to her forever?”_ ** _ She talks like she can’t believe such injustice is about to happen.  _

**_“Yeah, if I’m lucky enough she’ll want to put up with me until I’m old and grey.”_ ** _ She cries even harder. And then it hit him. He was crushing a little girl’s dream.  _

**_“I’m… so happy for you.”_ ** _ And then she storms out of the room.  _

_ “Well, I guess we don’t exactly have Poppy’s blessing?” He tells Tessa, who’s laughing and crying at the same time. And then the last family member appears on the screen.  _

**_“Hey, buddy.”_ ** _ The camera was trying to focus on Puck, who was just walking around their new - and very empty - living room.  _ **_“Hey, hey. Come here.”_ ** _ Puck gets closer to him, staying still, close to Scott’s feet.  _ **_“Good boy.”_ ** _ Scott pats his head.  _ **_“I want to ask you something.”_ **

**_“You know mommy, right?”_ ** _ Puck looked at him like he was worried Scott was going crazy. Of course  _ he knew mommy _.  _ **_“And you also know that daddy loves her, right? Like… so much?”_ ** _ He barks.  _ **_“When someone loves another person this much, the man - or woman - gives the other a ring. Propose. Then they get married and promise to spend the rest of their lives together. Well, I wanna spend the rest of my life with your mommy.”_ ** _ The camera doesn’t show Scott’s face, but Tessa can tell he was crying.  _ **_“Do I have your blessing to marry her?”_ ** _ He barks once and then runs to the yard.  _

**_“I guess that was a yes?”_ **

_ The video ends, Scott helps Tessa stand up and gets down on one knee.  _

_ “Hey.”  _

_ It’s all he manages to say before he starts crying as well.  _

_ “I’m pretty sure you have a clear idea of what’s happening here and I’d like to say a few things. Like how I’m thankful for having met you. For you loving me. For somehow being crazy enough to put up with me for the past three years. I’m thankful for our future. Because I know, kiddo, it’s you and me. And I keep thinking about this kid with freckles on her cheeks, gorgeous little green eyes and unfortunately a huge nose because that’s life and I can’t help but also think it’s my mission to have this kid with you?” _

_ His voice is shaky, just like both of their hands.  _

_ “And that corkboard world map we bought to mark every country we visited together? I want to keep doing that for the rest of my life, T. One by one. I want to see this world while holding your hand. See the sparkle in your eyes just like I did when we were at the top of the Eiffel Tower, in front of Jane Austen’s house, at that chocolate factory in Switzerland or at Christ the Redeemer.”  _

_ She is sobbing.  _

_ “I just realized we don’t have to be married to do any of those things, maybe I’m just a selfish bastard that wants so badly to see you walking down the aisle in some out of this world wedding dress. Maybe I’m Scott ‘rom-com’ Moir as you keep telling me, but hell if I wouldn’t give everything for that moment.” He keeps smiling. “So, Tessa Virtue… will you marry me?” _

_ And then she’s on the floor with him, dropping kisses all over his face while saying “yes, yes, yes!” _

_ When he takes the square box from his pocket and holds it in his hands, Tessa can’t believe her luck. And when he opens the box, she’s sure there’s no one else that lucky in the entire world.  _

_ It’s a chocolate ring.  _

_ “Oh my God, Scott!” She bursts out laughing.  _

_ “I had to tell this crazy story for the Lindt people and I’m pretty sure they didn’t buy it, but they helped me anyway.”  _

_ The ring is a mix of white and dark chocolate, the ring itself made of the dark one and the “stone” made of the white.  _

_ Seconds later he revealed the real ring and she truly couldn’t be happier. If that was all Scott or Jordan, all she knew was that that was the ring of her dreams.  _

It is now sharing the spotlight with the wedding band that’s finally on her finger instead of in a necklace hidden under her clothes. 

**“So… I’m about to leave on a book tour.”** Says Tessa. 

**“YAY, but also** **_urgh_ ** **.”** Scott says, making funny faces at her. She laughs for the hundredth time in the last minute.

**“And I can’t meet you without telling you guys something else first.”**

**“Are we just telling them or actually showing them?”**

**“Let’s show them. I honestly don’t know how any of you haven’t noticed this before, and if you did, I didn’t come across the comments. So I’m feeling a little bit like a ninja here. We did it, babe.”** She high fives Scott.

**“Well,** **_I_ ** **almost didn’t.”**

**“Yeah, you almost told all of Canada live on television, but still, we did it.”**

**“And now we can’t do it anymore.”**

**“And we wouldn’t like to continue keeping this secret from you. We want you to be happy for us, as I’m sure you’ll be.”**

**“How do you want to do this? Are you inserting a picture?”**

**“Why don’t you help me stand up?”**

 

And that’s what he does. He helps her stand up and reveal her small four-month baby bump.

Scott can’t stop grinning. She didn’t start showing until a few weeks before, when she had to wear bigger clothes to hide it and be careful not to show it on any of the vlogs. But still, she was surprised none of the fans suspected that she was pregnant. Of course the suspicions were a constant, but when she actually got pregnant no one noticed it. 

**“We had this whole plan, we would reveal the wedding when we got back from our honeymoon, but then I started feeling sick, Scott had to travel with the team and it just wasn’t right, you know. And then we found out about this little one…”** She caresses her belly. **“And then we didn’t want to bring attention to us before we ready to tell you about the baby. So yeah. That’s why it took so long to share this with you. We can’t wait to start this new chapter of our lives and bring you along on this journey.”**

**“We’re just… so happy, guys. So happy.”** Scott says.

**“I first thought I was pregnant four days after we came back from our honeymoon. I was really sick our last day there, but I blamed it on the food we ate there. I got home, Scott went straight to Montreal for an away game, and I was so tired. The first couple of days I blamed it on the jet lag. On the third day I was like ‘there’s something wrong here’ and on the fourth day I made my best friend bring me a couple of tests. I asked for a couple, but she brought like ten different brands. I don’t even know why I’m telling you this, I’m sorry.”**

She loves to tell this story. The fact that she’s now able to properly talk about it fills her heart with joy. In a version that would not make the video, she’d also say that they hadn’t exactly talked about having a baby, but they weren’t exactly doing anything to prevent it. Quite the contrary.

**“You know what? I’d like to thank Casper’s for this amazing bed. Without it, we wouldn’t be doing this video today.”** _As if_ , Tessa thinks. They’ve made some math and it was very likely that their baby was conceived in the Scotiabank Arena. With no beds involved.

**“This is so not going to make the cut. But we could still send Leisa a ‘Thank You’ card?”**

**“We should definitely do that. Are we telling the story of how you told me you’re pregnant?”**

**“Of course! So I made this cute shirt for Puck with “Big Brother” embroidered so we could surprise Scott when he got home from Montreal. Everything seemed perfect. The shirt was the right fit for Puck, even though he definitely gained some weight since we all moved in together and he was happily running around the house as if he knew he was carrying the most special secret of our lives in his outfit.”**

She stops for a second, thinking about that day.

**“When Scott sent me a text saying that he was already in his car, on his way home, I started crying. Puck was the cutest, though. Sitting on my lap, trying to give me some sort of comfort. And then Scott got home and I almost fainted because I was so excited to see his reaction. Of course I already knew that it was going to be a happy one, but I was still curious to see his exact reaction. So Scott opens the door, Puck runs towards him and I stay on the couch, just waiting to see his expression. He kneels down to talk to Puck, says…”**

**“Nice outfit, buddy.”** Scott interrupts her.

**“Yeah. And then he notices what’s written.”** Scott is immediately blushing. He puts his hands in the air as if to say _I’m sorry_ _for what’s to come._

**“He looks at me a little bit confused and I’m there waiting for the moment he’s gonna add two and two and realize he’s gonna be a dad, but his expression just keeps getting more confused and then he says ‘why does Puck’…”**

**“Why does Puck have Big Brother merch? We don’t even watch that show, babe.”** Scott repeats his own words. 

**“I was so mad at him for like ten seconds. Then I burst out laughing because that was just Scott being Scott.”** She looks at him.  **“You were so confused.”**

**“Of course I was. I was scared by the angry look on your face and then was confused again when you started laughing and…”** He looks at her eyes and loses his train of thought. A couple of seconds later, he continues.  **“And then she told me she was pregnant and I didn’t stop crying until the first ultrasound.”** His voice is trembling.  **“Apparently still haven’t stopped.”**

**“About the wedding.”** She changes the subject so he can recompose himself.  _ The wedding. _ That was the best day of his life for fifteen days, until she told him they’re having a baby. 

**“Yeah.”** He points at his wedding band, proudly showing his hand to the camera. 

**“It was a small event, just us, our family and closest friends in Scott’s parents backyard. It was beautiful, just how we imagined it, and Puck stole the scene. You know they say the bride is the center of attention, right? That was so not the case.”**

**“We should insert a picture of him, T.”**

****

**“And now you can see why that happened. Scott’s kid was the star of the day.”** She pretends she’s mad, but the hint of a smile is giving her away. 

**“He’s your kid more than mine these days. Never felt so betrayed in my entire life.”**

**“He’s not.”**

**“No? Who did he run to when he met our neighbors’ pug, the one he had this instant crush on? Not me.”** _Falling fast in love,_ _just like his dad_ , it’s what Scott thinks. **“Actually, he gets that from me.”**

**“What? You have a crush on Lola now? You know she’s a dog, right?”**

**“No, you silly. I’m talking about instant crushes. Although Puck has new crushes every time he walks around the block and I haven’t had a new one since Cara told me that the** **_amazing_ ** **Tessa Virtue was calling me out on Twitter and I had to know more about her.”**

**“I’m really glad there’s been no other crushes in your life, Moir. Really glad. And this Tessa Virtue? What did you think of her when you looked for her online?”**

**“I thought ‘God, I can’t wait for her to burn rice in my kitchen’”**

And then she slaps him playfully in the arm. 

******“But really. Who did Puck run to when Jordan’s dog tried to steal his toy? Not me.”** Scott continues.

**“Fair enough.”**

**“Fair will be once this kid”** he points at her belly and smiles softly,  **“is here with us and decides he or she love me more. Please leave in the comments who do you think will be a better parent.”**

**“Oh, YouTuber much?”**

**“Learning with the best. But really, guys, vote. This is important.”**

**“Is this a challenge, Moir?”**

**“Well, if you want it to be…”** And then he looked like he just had an idea.  **“This could actually be a challenge, you know?  I’ve seen those YouTubers from England, they’re a couple and don’t have a baby yet. Anyways, the guy, Alfie, bought them two baby dolls that look just like real babies. They get hungry and everything! They still haven’t done the challenge, but the idea is to spend a whole day taking care of the babies, him of one and her the other, and at the end of the day they see how many parenting points they’ve made. We could buy a couple of these.”**

**“Yeah, sure.”** _Never_ , is what she thinks. She doesn’t know he’s going to persuade her to do that a few weeks later. **“Scott’s a huge YouTube fan right now and is always texting me ideas for new videos.”**

**“But she doesn’t like any of them.”**

**“A couples lie detector test, babe? Guess the body part? Really?”**

**“Jordan says she’s game for Boyfriend x Sister, though. I mean,** **_husband_ ** **x sister. Cause you know, you’re my** **_wife_ ** **now. My** **_wife._ ** **”**

**“Yeah, I think I remember our wedding ceremony.”**

**“** **_Wife._ ** **It’s so good to say that to the universe, even though there’s only a camera in front of us, not actual people. I mean, is this rude to the Internet people, your subscribers? They’re real people, but they’re not actually here, right?”**

**“I think they’ll be okay with this, Scott. It’s okay.”** She laughs a little. He’s so much better at social media these days, but he still sounds like an old uncle sometimes. And she loves it. Tessa can’t wait to grow old with this old man.

**“I know you’re gonna ask us if we already have a name. We don’t know if it’s a boy or a girl, we’re gonna wait until he or she is born, but names have been a topic of huge discussion in this household. Maybe we should let Puck decide.”** Tessa says. 

**“Or maybe we could open a toll on Twitter.”**

**“You’re spending way too much time online, darling.”**

**“Speaking of that, can I ask you a question?”**

**“Sure?”**

**“Are you going to change the name of your channel?”**

**“Why would I do that?”**

**“I don’t know. Maybe it could be ‘The Virtuous Moir Life’? Or even better, and listen to me on this one, this is really good… ‘The Moir Virtuous Life’?”** She bites her lip to try to contain her laugh. He looked like he actually had put a lot of thought into this.

**“Scott, how long have you been thinking about this?”**

**“A while.”**

**“How long?”**

**“Ever since I bought the ring.”**

**“And that’s why I love you. But no, babe. As much as I adore your idea, I’m not changing the name of the channel.”** He seemed bummed. He really thought he had had a nice idea.  **“But besides The Virtuous Life and Everyday Virtue I could have a third one?”**

**“Yeah?** ” He smiled and she couldn’t help but think that at that moment he looked like a happy kid, giving Tessa a glimpse of her future.

**“What do you think of ‘The Virtuous Moirs’”?**

**\----XXX----**

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**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Up next:  
> A lifetime of laughter and love.

**Author's Note:**

> P.s: I have no idea if the Casper's products are any good - don't think they sell it here in Brazil - just saw that they sponsor the Maple Leafs and thought that mattresses and pillows would be really fun products for T and S to interact with on camera, right?  
> P.s #2: I wanted to create social media accounts for Tessa, so the story wouldn’t end here, but I felt like maybe *THE* Tessa Virtue could come across it and that wouldn’t be nice.


End file.
